


Past, Present, and Future(?)

by betheflame



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Peter Parker, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Kidfic, M/M, Mutual Pining, Parent Bucky Barnes, Parent Steve Rogers, Second Chances, de-aged avengers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:48:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 30,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25193437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/betheflame/pseuds/betheflame
Summary: “Sorry, Captain, sir, yes sir.” The child-who-was-maybe-a-Stark stammered out, a tone of fear lacing his voice before he turned and grinned big at Bucky. “See you later Uncle Buck!”As the kid scrambled off the couch and towards the kitchen, Bucky saw several other small children surrounding Steve’s legs.“We had a situation,” Steve said dryly.____The Avengers are all de-aged and it's up to Steve and Bucky to parent them while Strange searches for a solution. If they happen to fall back in love,
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers & Avengers Team, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Comments: 191
Kudos: 758





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Juulna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Juulna/gifts), [Annaelle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annaelle/gifts).



> Well, chickens, here's my first multi-chaptered Stucky since last fall. This one is a gift from Juulna to Annaelle, and was part of a MTH+ bid I did when my two main offerings were snatched before Juulna could get to them. Annaelle asked for Stucky getting back together while parenting de-aged Avengers and that is exactly what is about to happen. 
> 
> This one is pretty much written, so the gang and I will see you every Friday for the next ten weeks. 
> 
> Thanks to FestiveFerret for.... everything and to ashes0909 for the cracker jack beta.

“Jarvis?”

“Yes, Sergeant Barnes?”

Someday, Bucky would get used to talking to the air and having the air respond, but today was not that day.

“Is there an ETA on the Quin?”

“Approximately ten minutes, Sergeant.”

“Thanks, Jarvis.”

“Would you like me to alert you when they land?”

“Yes, please, thank you,” Bucky said and went back to the book he was attempting to read. It was on The List that the team had put together for Steve to catch up to the 21st century - which Bucky had conveniently stolen. Between therapy, time in BARF, and The List, Bucky was getting a little tired of self-improvement.

But he was getting even more tired of not being cleared for missions and being forced to wait around for everyone to come home like he was the world’s worst version of Harriet Nelson.

_Wait a minute…_

“Hey Jarvis, can you get old radio programs?”

“Yes, Sergeant, I’ve procured many from the Library of Congress for the Captain in the past,” Jarvis replied.

“Can you play something from _Ozzie and Harriet_?”

The familiar theme tune began to play in the common room and Bucky was struck again at how fucking weird his life was.

“Sergeant,” Jarvis interrupted several minutes later. “Captain Rogers and the team have… returned.”

Bucky sat up slowly. “Why was there a pause, Jarvis? Is everyone okay?”

Before Jarvis could answer, a small boy with a mop of brown curls came rocketing into the common room and pounced on the chair next to Bucky. “Uncle Bucky? Right? That’s what Nat called you when she was looking for you right after we got zapped. I could tell who you were by your arm. She remembers you from her before, but I don’t remember people from my before, not very well, just some, but Uncle Bucky is okay? Right?”

“Um… sure, kid.” Bucky tried very hard not to outwardly panic. Who the fuck is this kid?

“Tony,” Steve’s voice sounded from the entrance to the common room.

 _Tony?_ Bucky peered a little closer at the kid nearly vibrating next him. _Giant eyes, check. Talks a mile a minute, check. This can’t be Stark, can it? Does Stark have a kid? Why would he name him Tony? That’s just going to be confusing._

“Sorry, Captain, sir, yes sir.” The child-who-was-maybe-a-Stark stammered out, a tone of fear lacing his voice before he turned and grinned big at Bucky. “See you later Uncle Buck!”

As the kid scrambled off the couch and towards the kitchen, Bucky saw several other small children surrounding Steve’s legs.

“We had a situation,” Steve said dryly.

“Forgetting to pick up pizza on the way home is a situation, Stevie,” Bucky replied, not taking his eyes off of a very small version of Natasha. “This feels a bit bigger.”

"I'm big!" a tiny Clint proclaimed, appearing from behind Steve's leg. "I bet I could reach the top shelf." He put his hands on his hips and puffed out his chest.

Bucky raised an eyebrow. "Top shelf of what? A Playmobil library?"

"Hey!"

"Bucky," Steve groaned.

"Are they all like this?" He pushed up off the couch and peered around Steve to find Bruce holding a large, purple blanket in his arms and staring wide-eyed at everyone else.

"Everyone except me,” Steve sighed. “Long story short, there was a wizard -”

“He had a hat!” Clint interrupted.

“He did, buddy, you’re right,” Steve smiled, but Bucky could see it didn’t reach his eyes.

“You got a call about sentient toasters,” Bucky said slowly.

“They were being controlled by a wizard from another timeline,” Steve said.

“Another -”

“Shoot, have we not covered that there’s a multiverse yet in your rehab?” Steve ran his hands through his hair. “So even longer story I’ll tell you later, but there are multiple timelines, Strange is looking into it, and right now, I’m in charge of mini versions of Earth’s mightiest heroes.”

“We’re in charge,” Bucky said as Nat started to crawl up Steve’s left side.

“What?”

“You said ‘you’, punk,” Bucky smirked. “I get that I’m a murder puppet, but I can probably wrangle a few toddlers.”

“You sure, Buck? I don’t want to-”

“Interrupt my incredibly busy social schedule of therapy and Wikipedia? I’m good, Stevie, I promise.”

There was noise from the kitchen, and Clint tore himself away from Steve and barrelled towards it. Nat looked torn between following Clint and staying on her perch on Steve’s hip, but she eventually lept down and followed the noise.

Bruce shuffled a little closer, looking up at Bucky in obvious interest. "Hey, Bruce," Bucky said. "Nice blankie."

Steve somehow managed to look even more exhausted than usual. "Not a blanket," he muttered. He turned off towards where Tony had disappeared to, leaning back to try and see around the doorframe.

Bucky tugged on a corner of the blanket and found a leg hole. _Ah_.

"Tony?" Steve called. There was a small squeak and then Tony's face appeared around the door frame.

"Yes, sir!" He seemed to be vibrating with some sort of strange energy.

"You okay?"

He nodded furiously. "I'm not breaking anything."

"I didn't say you were."

Tony's eyes went wide and his throat bobbed. "I'll sit here." He darted back in the room and threw himself in a large, puffy armchair, making it look even bigger as his feet stuck straight off the end.

“Where’s Thor?” Bucky said suddenly. “Did he go back to Asgard?”

“If only he would have,” Steve muttered quietly, presumably so the kids wouldn't hear him.

As if on cue, a teenage version of Thor appeared in the kitchen and headed straight for the fridge. He grabbed the milk and proceeded to drink directly from the carton.

“Hey, manners, kid,” Bucky snapped. _Well, I always wondered if Winnie would come out of my mouth when I was a dad. Got my answer._

Thor turned slowly but did not stop drinking until the carton was empty and he threw it over his shoulder while making direct eye contact with Bucky. Thor grunted, narrowed his eyes, and walked off in the direction of Adult Thor’s bedroom.

"Did an Asgardian prince just roll his eyes at me?"

“I have a feeling,” Steve responded in place of an answer, “that will be the least of our concerns.” His eyes cut to Nat and Clint at the kitchen table, where Clint was busy showing Nat the entire collection of kitchen knives that he had somehow gotten out of the butchers block. Maybe he could reach the top shelf, after all.

“I feel like we should call that Strange guy for an update,” Bucky replied. “Quickly.”

Steve made the call while Bucky rounded the kids up and disarmed the mini-spies. He sat the tots on the couch then went to check on Thor, instead pounding music was rattling the door in its frame and there was no answer to his knock. "Uh, JARVIS?"

"Yes, sir?"

"If he, like, keels over from overwhelming teenage angst, you'll let us know, right?"

"Of course, sir. I monitor the well-being of everyone in the tower."

"Perfect."

Bucky left Thor to writing poetry about Jane's eyes or something, and went back to the common room where -

Where all the kids were gone.

He could hear Steve on the phone in the other room, but the couch was empty. "Hey, brats, where'd you go?"

There was a giggle from behind the couch. Bucky grinned. "Oh, no. I've lost the tiny Avengers. Steve will have my head."

Another giggle.

"Where could they have possibly gone?" Bucky opened the fridge and rattled some bottles loudly. "Not in here!"

There was some rustling and hushing from behind the couch.

Bucky pulled a beer out and looked for the kids in the drawer with the bottle opener. "Gosh, no sign of them at all."

Steve's footsteps trundled down the hall and he came around the corner. His expression snapped from exasperated to terrified in a heartbeat. "Bucky where are they? Where'd they go? Did you let them wander off? Shit."

Bucky rolled his eyes. "They're behind the couch, Steve."

"Uncle Steve said a swear!" the couch shouted, in Clint's voice.

"Oh." Steve rubbed his hand over his face and Bucky handed him his beer. Three miniature superheroes filed out from behind the couch.

"Where's Tony?" Bucky asked, realizing that assuming all four of them were in the same place was probably a bad idea.

"Uncle Bucky?" came Tony's voice from behind the couch.

Bucky leaned over the back and found Tony crouched down. "Yes?"

"Is Uncle Steve mad?"

"No, he's not mad. He was scared. You got him good! But you have to be careful with Uncle Steve cause he gets scared real easily."

"And then he'll have nightmares?"

"Yeah, bud. Come on out."

Tony shuffled out and took a handful of the back of Bucky's shirt. Nat and Clint each had an arm wrapped around one of Steve's legs, Nat with her thumb in her mouth, and Clint with his mouth going a mile a minute.

"- just one jar, Uncle Steve, it's really important."

Steve looked up from his phone where he'd been texting furiously. "Sorry, what?"

Clint rolled his eyes and Bucky hated that it was cute instead of annoying. "Never mind. Uncle Bucky, can I have a jar? It's important."

"Uh, sure." Bucky went back to the kitchen with Tony shuffling along behind him and rummaged around for an old pasta sauce jar. "So what'd Strange say, Stevie?"

Steve sighed. "He hasn't found anything yet. He's on his way over to do some tests. He'll be here in a few minutes."

Bucky handed a jar to Clint who worked the top off. "What kind of tests?"

"I don't know."

Clint held the open jar out to Steve. "I need a quarter."

"What, why?"

"You said a swear!" He looked shocked that anyone would have anything to say on the matter. "This is the swear jar. If you say a swear you put a quarter in the swear jar."

"Then what?" Bucky asked, but before he could answer, an orange circle sliced its way through the air, ringed with ethereal flames. "Shit!" Bucky threw himself between the obvious magic and the kids, but Steve caught his arm.

"It's okay! It's just Strange."

"God dammit, Stevie," Bucky said, heart restarted. "You could have warned me he wasn't coming by limo."

"Sorry. Sorry." Steve's hand ran down Bucky's arm, pulling tingles after it. He rarely touched Bucky, these days, and every time he did, it felt like he was drawing highlighter across Bucky's skin.

Clint waved his jar at Steve and he dug his wallet out as a man stepped into the room. A man wearing a cloak. And the gaudiest necklace Bucky had ever seen. "Wow."

There was a clink as Steve dropped a quarter in Clint's jar and stepped forward to greet the man who certainly seemed to live up to his name. Bucky moved to follow, but Clint stepped in front of him and held out the jar.

"Seriously?"

"You said shit -" Clint flicked up one finger "- and then you said god dammit." His voice rose towards the end of the sentence as a second finger came up, and Strange's eyes narrowed in their direction.

"Okay fine, you little grifter." Bucky dug around in his pocket and came up with fifty cents. He dropped it in and Clint shook the jar with obvious glee. Bucky would get him back when he was big again. Speaking of that… "You Strange?"

The man in the cape shot him a withering look. "You must be Sergeant Barnes."

"Not for about seventy-five years, now. What kind of tests?"

"Excuse me?"

"What kind of tests are you going to do to the kids? Steve said you needed to run tests." Bucky put himself between the tiny gang and Strange and crossed his arms. "They're just kids."

"They've been cursed and are adults, Mr. Barnes," Strange drawled. "I will do whatever is necessary."

Bucky bristled. "Not on my watch." _And there's Winnie again._

Strange sighed dramatically. "I assure you it won't injure them in any way. They'll barely feel it."

Bucky dropped a hand on Tony's head. "Alright."

"And you’re sure this has nothing to do with the toaster that tried to bite Tony?"

“THE WHAT?” Bucky roared and Steve held up his hand.

“Not now, Buck. The toaster, Strange?”

“I am confident it has nothing to do with the appliances themselves, Captain, yes,” Strange said. “What I am not confident of is where in the multiverse the wizard came from and I need to see if the magic left traces on anyone so I can track the source of the magic. Only then can I seek to rectify the abnormality regarding the...children.”

Strange said “children” in the same tone of voice one would use for “radioactive waste disposal” and Bucky couldn’t say he cared for it.

“So do I have your permission, Barnes,” Strange continued, and Bucky fought the instinct to twitch at the tone, “even though I do not require it?”

Bucky stared down the man and then a small sound drew his attention to Tony, who was scowling at Strange with all the power of six-year-old anger. It hit Bucky that being trapped in a body you didn’t understand wasn’t something he wanted anyone else to ever experience - ever.

“Do what you need to, but if any of them cries, I don’t apologize for what I’ll do to ya,” Bucky said.

“Fatherhood came on quickly, I see,” Strange said, enigmatically. He then turned to address Steve. “Captain, I seem to recall that the spell first hit your shield and then hit Tony.”

“Yes,” Steve confirmed. “I think he was distracted by the toaster cord, and then once he was de-aged, I think the wizard turned his power to the rest of the team.”

Strange crooked his finger at Tony who frowned but shuffled closer. One by one, Strange held his finger in front of the kids and stared intently at them. Nat got slightly tickled by the cloak at one point - which caused Bucky’s eyebrows to raise to his hairline and Steve to shoot him a look of not now - but true to his word, the children were all unharmed.

Despite Steve clearly trusting the magic user, Bucky still felt a lot better when he straightened up and stepped away from Bruce, shaking his head. Bucky gripped the edge of Bruce's "blankie" and pulled him away from Strange.

Strange sighed and Steve groaned. "Nothing?"

"Nothing. I'm going to have to go back to the Sanctum and do more research. This is multiverse magic." His lips twitched like he was grinding his jaw together. "It's… rather beyond me at the moment, I'm afraid."

"We're kind of sitting ducks right now," Steve grumbled. "They can't defend themselves like this."

"Well, isn't it fortuitous it didn't work on you, then?"

"You're the Sorcerer Supreme. Aren't you supposed to know this kind of thing?!"

Strange lifted one eyebrow. "There are many mysteries in the multiverse, Captain Rogers. As I said, I will have to go investigate them. And when I have an answer, I shall return with it. In the meantime…" Strange's eyes cut over to the kids. “I understand dinosaur nuggets usually go over well. With ketchup." He shifted his hand and the glowing, orange portal opened again.

"Yeah, thanks," Steve drawled. He turned back towards Bucky as Strange disappeared. "Pretentious assho-" His eyes cut to Clint who was clutching his jar in an eager sort of way. "-ssumer."

Clint's eyes narrowed.

"What do we do?" Bucky asked.

Steve shrugged, looking beyond panicked and into sheer terror. "Order dinosaur nuggets?"

Instead, they found four boxes of macaroni and cheese in the cupboard and lined the kids up at the breakfast bar with a bowl each. The kids tucked in and Bucky and Steve stood shoulder to shoulder and scraped out the rest of the pot with spoons.

Steve waved his orange-stained spoon in the air. "We can handle it."

"Sure why not? They're just kids. We can handle a bunch of kids."

Tony's hand shot up. "Can I be excused?"

"Sure, bud."

Tony took Bruce's hand and dragged him away from the breakfast bar and off to the living room. Bucky rinsed the empty pot and wriggled it into the dishwasher. There were a lot of weird things about the future, but dishwashers were just genius.

"Yeah, we can handle this," Steve said softly to himself, and Bucky came up beside him. Steve's jaw set. "If this gets out, we're going to have everyone who's ever had a mean thought towards any of us descending on the tower to try and get their hands on one of these kids."

"So we won't let it happen. Protecting the little guy is what you do, pal."

Steve shot Bucky the first real smile he'd seen on him all day. "Thanks, Buck."

Bucky cut his eyes away so his cheeks wouldn't heat and looked over at where Bruce was watching Tony take the TV remote apart. He paused, rolling a new idea around in his head. "So, uh, here's a question," he said. "Do you think they still have their powers?"

Steve followed his line of sight. "...Oh."

"Yeah. I mean, he's what? Seven? Maybe it wouldn't be so bad."

"I'll admit I don't know much about seven year olds, but I understand their temper tantrums can actually be pretty damn bad."

"Steve said a swear," came Clint's small voice from near Bucky's hip.

"Adult freebie." Bucky patted him on the head. "So, what? Are we just going to make sure not to piss tiny Bruce off?"

"Bucky said a swear now."

"Every adult gets their own freebie."

Steve tilted his head as he watched Bruce examine one of the batteries, chatting away with Tony, or rather listening quietly while Tony monologued. Bucky sighed. How did you keep a little kid from getting upset?

"Maybe he won't. Cause, you know, he's young now. He didn't get his… little problem until he was an adult. Maybe that got reverted too?"

"Maybe. Or maybe we're -" Bucky clapped his hands over Clint's ears "- totally fucked."

Clint tilted his head back to look up at Bucky. "Bucky said a swear."

"How do you know?"

Clint shrugged. "Why else would you cover my ears?"

Bucky looked up at the ceiling, begging for patience to be beamed down from whoever was in charge of that kind of thing. They needed to get this fixed fast, or a miniature Hulk was going to be the least of their problems.

For one, Clint was starting to rattle the jar ominously again, and Bucky was running out of quarters.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am blown away by the feedback on this one already - so excited for you to keep getting to know this world. 
> 
> Thanks again to ferret for *everything* and to ashes0909 for the beta (and also a lot of everything).

After Steve and Bucky had wrestled the kids to bed - and oh, hadn’t that been a time - Steve and Bucky collapsed onto one of the overstuffed sofas in the common room.

“I have,” Bucky sighed, “four million questions and aches in muscles I haven’t used since the fucking chair.” He paused for a beat. “God, it feels good to swear.”

Steve laughed. “We are absolutely ripping Clint a new one for that when he grows up again.”

“I mean, you should be used to it,” Bucky smirked and Steve grinned.

“Ma had a special bar of soap just for my mouth,” Steve admitted.

“Yeah, and all it did was make you figure out new ways to cuss in front of her.”

“But Ma was always smarter,” Steve continued. “I’d maybe get one, two days out of a new word.”

“Remember the time she tried to get to Wally’s mouth?”

Steve threw his head back and his laughter filled the room. “God, I haven’t thought about that since the 30s. What did he say again?”

“Oh, I don’t even remember,” Bucky confessed. “But what I do remember is Becca’s face when she pointed at your ma coming in behind Wally.”

The pair laughed for a few more minutes before Bucky asked Steve if he wanted something to drink and headed into the kitchen to get a couple of bottles of root beer.

“You know,” Steve said as he accepted the glass bottle, “they all make fun of me for liking this stuff so much, but they don’t get it.”

“It was two day’s hawking wages to get a bottle ‘a rootie,” Bucky replied, his accent thickening and Steve was transported back to 1920s Brooklyn in a heartbeat.

“And they keep saying the bread is better, but -”

“Fuck off that bread that comes in a plastic bag is better than the stuff Mama baked,” Bucky snorted.

“Exactly!”

“And why does any meal we go to with Tony come covered in foam?”

Steve laughed. “That one guy who came to do the last benefit - Blaze? I mean, he seemed nice enough but I really just wanted food, not food-flavored foam.”

There was a minute of silence before Bucky continued, “Indoor plumbing is pretty great, though.”

“And that there’s one attached to our bedrooms,” Steve emphasized, a hint of wonder in his voice. “With floors that are warm all the time.”

“And the towels,” Bucky’s voice held a touch of wonder. “We dried off with newspapers after the weekly bath for how long? And Stark’s got these towels that are so fluffy I could _actually_ die.”

Steve laughed. “The world-renown sharp shooter James Barnes, felled by towels.”

“And I don’t hate that I can know where everyone is all the time,” Bucky confessed.

“The phones you mean?”

Bucky nodded. “Whenever I… whenever I was out of it long enough that I could remember you a bit, at the beginning, before I went to the Red Room, I just wanted to know where you were. That was all I wanted. I knew where Becca and Mama and Sarah were, but you? And whenever I asked, they just shoved the bite guard in my mouth and flipped the switch. I never knew where you were and then I didn’t know who you were…”

“Hey,” Steve’s voice was soft, and he placed a hand on Bucky’s shoulder. “You always know where I am now.”

The moment held - an intimacy that stretched like taffy as Steve looked at Bucky for any indication he may want to hit ‘play’ on the love story that had been ‘paused’ for so long - but then Bucky grinned and the moment ended. And Steve, once again, had waited too long.

“Yeah, being a pain in my ass,” Bucky snorted. “Now, what the fuck is up with the small fries?”

Steve ran a hand over his face. “It was a normal battle -”

“Against _toasters_.”

“Buck, we fought creatures made entirely of plant spores two weeks ago,” Steve sighed. “This is the gig.”

“I just feel we really shouldn’t use the word ‘normal’ when there are sentient toasters involved,” Bucky said simply, taking a long pull from the bottle, and Steve was temporarily distracted by the memory of kissing that neck.

“Well, I’m not sure at what point in this new life sentient toasters stop being involved, but whatever,” Steve sighed. “Anyway, it was fairly straightforward once we figured out that the toasters were using the cords to wrap around people and that they were being controlled by a guy who looked like he came straight from a carnival.”

“Yeah?”

“If I didn’t know better,” Steve smirked, “I’d say he was doing cosplay for Mickey as the sorcerer from Fantasia.”

“Cosplay?”

Steve winced. There were things about the 21st century that Bucky had quickly introduced into his lexicon and others were still foreign. Bruce reminded Steve all the time that Bucky was basically learning another language, just like he had done, and without the benefit of a fully functioning eidetic memory. “Sorry, pal, costume play.”

“Oh, like those folks in the park all in costumes last week when we ain’t anywhere close to Halloween?” Bucky asked. “Which, I never thought that would catch on.”

“I know,” Steve shook his head. “It was still weird the first Halloween I was awake.”

“Did you forget all the kids dressed as you after the newsreels came out?”

“Even worse,” Steve replied, “ _Tony_ dressed as Cap. Pegs showed me the pictures the first time I went to visit her.”

“He was a Cap fan, eh?”

“Evidently, before Howard became a totally irredeemable ass -”

“Need the full story on that one, Stevie.”

“- he made Tony a smaller shield and Tony carried it everywhere until he turned seven.”

“What happened at seven?”

Steve blanched and stayed quiet for a few moments. “Pegs isn’t sure, but she has some theories. Our friend changed, Buck. That guy we remember didn’t take to fatherhood super well.”

“Fuck,” Bucky breathed. “But toasters?”

“Toasters,” Steve said, mentally shaking himself back to the conversation at hand. “So the wizard kept screaming in a language I did not understand, but Tony must have because he started talking back and then Strange yelled something about not antagonizing the universe traveler-”

“Something else we’re getting back to.”

“-and the next thing I knew, something hit my shield hard. I was stumbling back from the impact and saw Tony hit by a bright, pink light and then he just… shrunk. The armor disappeared, and he was in a tiny version of the undersuit and I panicked because he was completely defenseless. I scrambled as fast as I could to get to him and by the time I got to him, it was too late for everyone else. I don’t know why the wizard didn’t try to hit me again once I had the shield on my back and not in my hands, but he didn’t. Strange says he vanished into his own time portal as soon as Thor was de-aged and…”

Steve trailed off, playing with a loose thread on the blanket that was draped over the arm of the couch. Steve recognized it as one of Nat’s favorites to wrap around her during movie nights and his heart hurt with the idea of never getting them all back. He had just started to feel like he could breathe again in this century - now that Bucky was reclaiming his own brain again it felt like he could hope in this century as well - and then this had to happen.

“Hey, Stevie,” Bucky’s voice was soft, “we’ll figure it out. It’ll be okay.”

“What if it’s not? What if they’re stuck like this?”

“Then we’ll figure that out,” Bucky shrugged. “I told you in that bunker, pal, I’ll follow the scrawny kid from Brooklyn anywhere. If that means into pseudo-parenthood, then that’s what we do. I’m sure Stark’s money will hire a few experts to make sure we don’t fuck ‘em up too bad.”

“Badly,” Steve corrected, a knee jerk reaction from their childhood when Sarah Rogers insisted that Steve learn how to speak “Not Brooklyn” and Winnie Barnes hadn’t cared.

Bucky snorted. “Fuck off, Stevie.”

“What if I made you a grammar jar?”

“I’d go broke faster than the swear jar, that’s for sure.”

* * *

Steve woke with his heart pounding and the distinct feeling that he needed to do something. He blinked into the dark, trying to pull a breath to ease the rush of adrenaline flooding through his veins. He pushed himself up on one elbow, fumbling for his phone to check the time, and two bright, glowing eyes stared back at him from the end of the bed.

"Jesus Christ!" Steve flung himself halfway up the headboard, sheets tangling around his legs, before the eyes melted into the face of a little girl with red hair. "Oh my god. Natasha." He slumped back down. One breath in. One breath out. "Are you okay?"

She shook her head, and Steve sat up and leaned forward, trying to get a look at her face in the dark.

"What's wrong, sweetie?"

She shook her head again.

Steve swung his legs over the side of the mattress and folded over with a groan. He rubbed at his face. There was a brief moment where he wondered why Nat hadn't gone to Bucky for help, but it was followed by a flush of guilt - they'd agreed to do this together. He could handle this.

"Okay, Nat. Let's get you back to bed."

Nat's tiny hand curled into Steve's and he stood up, suddenly aware of how tall he was, and led her out of his room. She shuffled along beside him, her too-long pants catching on her heels and making her stumble against his leg. In her room, Steve crouched down and took her gently by her shoulders. "So what happened, sweetie? Nightmare?"

Natasha turned and looked at the bed and Steve followed her line of sight. _Oh_. There was a dark wet patch on the sheets.

"Oh. You wet the bed, honey?"

She nodded, frowning. "Yeah."

"That's okay. Don't worry. We can just clean it up. It happens."

Nat shifted her weight from foot to foot. "Okay."

"Okay, good." Steve sat her in the chair in the corner and stripped the bed, leaving everything in a pile outside the bedroom. He rummaged around in Natasha's dresser - carefully avoiding the top two drawers - and found a pair of leggings he could fold up from the bottom and a t-shirt that was cut to fit adult Natasha slimly and would _maybe_ manage not to go too far below little Natasha's knees. Maybe. He helped her get cleaned up and changed into fresh clothes. "Okay, up we go!" He pulled her up onto his hip and held her close, her head tipping over to rest against his shoulder. "Tired?"

"Yeah," she whispered.

"Okay, let's pick some fresh sheets, huh?"

Nat nodded, so Steve took her to the linen closet and let her point out the set she wanted - white with light blue flowers - and then carry them back to the bedroom. He made the bed quickly and lifted Nat up in the center. The blanket pooled around her and made her look even smaller, her lip tucked in between her teeth.

Steve flattened his palms on top of the sheets and crouched down to her level again. "You okay?"

"Yeah."

"Ready to sleep?"

She shrugged. "I guess."

"Do you want a story?" Steve regretted the words the second they were out of his mouth, but Nat brightened a little.

"Yes, please." She folded her hands in her lap, looking at him expectantly.

"Oh, okay." The whole bedtime story concept was one he understood in theory but had never faced in reality. "Lie down."

Nat tipped over sideways, and Steve pulled the blankets up, stalling for time. When she was properly cocooned, he sat on the bed next to her little curled form, leaning back on his hands on the other side of her legs.

"Okay, so.... Once upon a time, there was a little boy. And he was so small, but even though he was small, he wasn't scared. But he wanted to help his friends and keep them safe,” Steve said. He told her all about the process of meeting the Howlies - leaving out such salient details as how filthy both their bodies and their mouths were - as she watched his mouth move in rapt attention _. I’m going to have come up with some more of these PG rated Cap stories._ _I bet Tony has the old comics somewhere..._ He let his gaze wander over the room as he finished on the time Gabe stole Peggy's lipstick as a prank and she made him run ten miles in the mud with no shoes as punishment and the decision had been made that no one pranked Peggy any longer.

When he looked back over, her eyes were closed so Steve pressed a light kiss into her hair. He stepped lightly out of the room, closing the door behind him, then, since he was up anyway, he peeked into the rest of the Avenger's rooms as well. He hesitated at Bucky's door, wondering if he was awake too, or fast asleep. There used to be a time when he would have been welcomed there, beside him at night. A time when he could rest a hand on Bucky's chest to feel him breathing and give strength to his own feeble breath. But whatever they had now wasn't that anymore, and he wasn't sure what it was. He did know it ached, though; it ached like something lost, but he still wasn't sure if it was lost forever or just dormant.

Steve went back to his room and tried to sleep, but it was elusive. There was nothing quite like waking up to a tiny child you weren't accustomed to standing silently at the end of your bed, staring, to make sure you were really properly awake. When after an hour he was still staring pointlessly at the ceiling, he got up and went down to the gym to burn off the rest of the adrenaline on a treadmill.

After a solid two-hour run and a shower, it was early enough that he went up to the kitchen to see if anyone was up. As he approached, he could hear the manic strains of Tony's chipper, young voice.

"And it uses magnets, Uncle Buck, like it's so simple, but it's perfect, cause you just turn it like this and -"

Steve stepped around the corner and Tony's mouth snapped shut like a steel trap, his eyes going wide. The contraption he was holding disappeared under the breakfast bar where he was perched on a stool, legs hanging off. Bucky, who was sitting next to him, followed his line of sight to Steve. "Morning, Stevie."

"Morning, Buck. Tony."

Tony made a small noise like a mouse being stepped on and turned sharply away. Steve resisted the urge to sigh. He'd been like that all day yesterday, calling Steve "sir" and then running away. But Tony was a kid. It wasn't his fault. So Tony didn't like him and as a kid he couldn't hide it as well as an adult. It was okay.

"Did you have breakfast already, Tony?" Steve asked.

Tony kept his eyes on his hands. "Mhm. CanIgoplaynow?" He tilted his head towards Bucky with his mumbled question.

"Sure, kid."

Tony bolted out of the room, and Steve gave in to his need to groan. "He hates me, Bucky. What did I do?"

Bucky shrugged. "I dunno, pal. He clams up every time I try and get him to talk about you. He's just a kid."

"I know, I know." Steve pushed a pan onto the stove and started cracking eggs. "I just… I thought things had improved between us, that we were friends, but he's clearly mad at me, or terrified, or however his kid brain can process the complicated way adult Tony feels about me. It feels like ten steps back after we spent, what, a year, taking five steps forward." Steve poked the eggs dejectedly in the pan.

It didn't help that he'd had the perpetual feeling of walking backwards with Bucky since they'd brought him home. It wasn't fair - Steve knew it wasn't fair to feel like that - but every time that they had a moment that turned out not to be one, every time their gazes held and Bucky's smile twisted platonic, or Steve tried to reach for his shoulders to squeeze him in a hug and couldn't, it felt like they were slowly unravelling everything they had built all those years ago. He watched their was disappear one stitch at a time, like his ma unworking a knitted sweater so she could work it back up again, a little bigger this time, the hem a new color of added-on yarn. Pop, pop, pop. Whenever Steve tried to reach out, one more stitch came free. And when the whole thing was unravelled, he didn't know what they'd have left. A pile of something too knotted up to work with again?

"Mr. Parker is here," JARVIS said flatly, breaking through Steve's spiraling thoughts. The eggs were well past done and veering into dry so Steve hastily dumped them on a plate and clicked off the burner.

"Pardon?"

"Mr. Parker is here."

"Peter? Spider-Man? Why?"

"He comes to the tower every Thursday, Captain. He and Mr. Stark are in the midst of several projects, including using nanotechnology to enhance Agent Barton’s arrows. I understand it's been arranged for him to receive college credit for his… 'internship' with Mr. Stark."

Bucky stood up from his seat and turned towards the door. "Shit."

Of course, Clint chose that moment to appear, pulling Natasha behind him. She had a white-knuckled grip of Clint and the thumb of her other hand stuck in her mouth. Clint looked at Bucky expectantly and he dug around in his pocket and came up with a dime.

"It was a baby swear, and you know it. Besides that's all I have. Eat your da--Eat your eggs."

Clint helped Nat up onto a stool then sat beside her. Steve put a plate in front of each of them and watched with concern as they maneuvered large, adult-sized forks into the eggs. Then he flicked his eyes up to meet Bucky's gaze over their heads. "What do we tell Peter?"

Bucky shrugged. "Tell him Tony's sick?"

"Have you met Peter?" Steve folded down to his elbows, rubbing his hands over his face. "If we said that, he'd just come back with soup and movies. Maybe JARVIS can tell him we're out on a mission?"

Bucky shrugged again. "Or that Tony had a sudden SI meeting and had to leave?"

"What are you talking about?"

Steve peered around the kitchen island and found Tony standing by Bucky's leg. The kid dropped his eyes to the floor when Steve tried to make eye contact and he resisted the urge to sigh. Instead, he crouched low, getting down to Tony's level. "We're trying to figure out what to tell Peter. You remember Peter, right?"'

Tony's whole face lit up, and Steve swallowed back the jealousy. "Peter's here?!"

"Oh, well… he can't come in. It's not safe. So -"

"I'll go get him!" Tony rocketed out of the room.

Bucky's eyes went wide. "Uh oh."

They both tore after Tony, but he'd already hit the button to bring the elevator up and it was just whirring to a stop when they rounded the corner. The doors slid open and Peter Parker was standing there, his school bag hooked over his shoulder.

"Peter!" Tony shouted, and he flung himself at the kid, wrapping his arms around his knees.

"Um, hello," Peter said. "Who are you?"

Steve started to say, _Tony's nephew_ , but it was too late.

Tony sighed with his whole body, the way only a child who thought an adult was being exceptionally dumb could do. "Duh, Peter, I'm Tony Stark and I'm six! And we can do science if you want!"

He could hear the patter of three other pairs of tiny feet behind him.

Peter stared down at Tony for a moment then rolled his eyes up to where Steve and Bucky were hovering in the hallway. "Um. Captain America, sir, so no offence, but what the hell is going here?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tune in next week for more fun with Peter - and Steve learning what that vaccines aren't just for polio any more.


	3. Chapter 3

“Peterpeterpeterpeeeeeeeeeter! Come on, let’s go science! You can do all the big kid stuff Uncle Bucky and Cap probably won’t let me do,” Tony tugged on Peter’s pant leg as Bucky ran through the catalogue of explanations that he could offer the kid.

“Tony, give me a minute,” Peter said calmly and ruffled Tony’s hair affectionately.

Bucky’s jaw nearly fell. “You just rolling with this?”

“I got bit by a spider and can now climb skyscrapers.” Peter smirked. “I learned to roll with things a while ago. Is this really Mr. Stark?”

“I told you I am,” Tony piped in.

Peter knelt down and made eye contact with Tony. “Tony, I need to talk to Captain America and your Uncle Bucky for a few minutes and then we can go science. Can you wait for me in the living room?”

“Science soon, you promise? And Brucie bear could come? I think he wants to but he’s too shy to ask, but he’s real smart, and so maybe he can science with us?”

“Of course, Tony.” Peter smiled and then pointed to the living room. “Why don’t you go ask him?”

And with that, Tony barrelled down the hallway, calling to Bruce as he went.

Peter straightened and looked at the two men. “Is it just Mr. Stark?”

“Nat, Bruce, Thor, and Clint, too,” Steve said.

“And I’m assuming you guys haven’t told Ms. Potts or Mr. Hogan about this?”

“Why do you ask?” Bucky said.

“Because if Ms. Potts knew, then I’m sure Karen would have gotten a message that I should stay home today, or at least that Mr. Hogan shouldn't have picked me up from school,” Peter explained.

“We need to tell Pepper,” Bucky turned to Steve. “Because Spidey over here can’t be the only thing on Tony’s calendar.”

“JARVIS?” Steve called.

“Yes, Captain?”

“What other in-person meetings did Tony have scheduled for the next several days?”

“He has a 2pm tomorrow with the Japanese Ambassador about a trade agreement, and then a brief board meeting for the Maria Stark Foundation on Friday morning at 10am.”

“Isn’t your prime directive to protect Tony?” Bucky queried.

“Indeed, Mr. Barnes,” JARVIS confirmed.

“And you didn’t think to tell us about all of these? Because I’d think the Japanese Ambassador showing up while Tony is still learning how to tie his shoes would hurt his credibility,” Bucky replied dryly.

The AI was silent for a moment before Peter grinned. “J, you already rescheduled everything didn’t you?”

“I have been protecting Sir, as is my prime directive,” JARVIS replied primly.

Steve’s jaw set in the way that told Bucky he was about to lose his temper, so Bucky quickly diffused the situation. “So, JARVIS, I’m thinking we need to loop Pepper in on this.”

“It would be advisable, Mr. Barnes.”

Bucky turned to Steve. “Can I ask why Pep wasn’t your first phone call?”

“She’s at the thing in Tokyo!” Steve protested. “I’m not interrupting that because something happened here that we can handle.”

“Quick question,” Peter interjected. “Have either of you cared for children in the 21st century?”

Both men shook their head and Peter pulled out his phone. “I’m bringing in reinforcements.”

“We’re doing fine,” Steve replied.

Peter ducked his head a little as a blush dusted his cheeks. “All due respect, Captain, sir, but there’s egg yolk in your hair and I have a feeling you don’t know if any of them have been vaccinated?”

“Vaccinated?” Bucky said. “You worried about polio?”

Peter nodded. “Among other things. Tetanus, rabies, measles -”

“There’s still measles?” Steve replied.

“Well, yes, but most people don’t get it because we have a vaccine, and since Mr. Stark doesn’t have his arc reactor, I’m going to guess that their bodies became their child versions and not just smaller versions of their adult selves?” Peter said while typing furiously at his phone.

"We honestly don't know," Steve confessed with a sigh. "It seems like it, but we don't have a way of finding anything out for sure. We haven't tested the… uh… Hulk situation."

"Ah." Peter stopped typing. "Well, don't worry, sir. You have professionals on hand now. I've been running science camp at the community centre since I was thirteen, plus helping Mrs. Berkowski with the twins, and MJ babysits for like fourteen families in her building."

Bucky narrowed his eyes. "You told your girlfriend? This is sort of an Avengers-only situation, kid." Bucky winced even as he said it. It wasn't like he was an Avenger. Thankfully, Peter didn't call him on it.

"There's five of them. You need her," he said flatly. "Clint's in the freezer."

"What?" Steve spun around, clipping Bucky on the shoulder.

Bucky turned too, and sure enough, the freezer was open and Clint was three quarters of the way inside, balanced precariously on the top of the fridge door, held "steady" by Natasha who had one thumb in her mouth. "Clint!" Bucky scruffed him and tugged him out of the freezer, setting him back on the floor. "What are you doing?"

"I was getting a popsicle. I'm hungry."

"Okay, A, you just ate breakfast, and B, popsicles are treats, they're not for when you're hungry."

"And C," Steve added. "You can't climb into the freezer by yourself!"

"Oh yeah, that too. You ask if you want something. Got it?"

Clint did a sort of half-nod, half-shrug and started whispering something in Natasha's ear, making her giggle.

"Where's Thor?" Peter asked.

Bucky shared a look with Steve. "He's in his room. Apparently the magic is proportional, and since Thor is some thousand Asgardian years old, or whatever, he only got shot back to whatever passes for their teenagehood. He's in his room, probably setting fire to something."

But Peter brightened. "Well, I dunno, maybe I should talk to him."

Steve frowned. "I don't think that's a great idea."

Bucky patted Peter on the head. "He's not your kind of teenagehood, kid. Don't worry. He's fine."

"I'm sure it's just a phase," Steve added.

The kids were starting to get worked up again, and Bucky desperately tried to think of something to do with them all, but Peter clapped his hands a few times before he could.

"Hey, guys!" Peter called. "Who wants to do science?"

Bruce and Tony shot their hands in the air.

"And who wants to… make something explode!"

Clint and Natasha's hands joined them.

"Okay, perfect. Single file to the elevator. We're going down to the lab."

They marched out like little ants, Peter leading the progression. "How'd he do that?" Bucky asked.

Steve shrugged. "Explosions are a cheap win. You could probably get them to sit quietly and do their taxes if they were promised an explosion."

Bucky chuckled, bumping his shoulder against Steve's. "Didn't know it was a competition."

"It's not." Steve pouted and it was just as adorable - maybe even more adorable - as when he was small. "Course it's not."

"It's not… as long as you're winning?"

Steve's pout morphed into a smirk. "Shut up." He hooked his arm around Bucky's shoulders and dragged him off after the kids. These were the moments when Bucky almost believed it was possible to go back, that he and Steve could set aside seventy-odd years in the middle and just be the people they were in another lifetime - or, perhaps more importantly, be the _them_ they were in another lifetime.

But Steve had spent years here building something new before Bucky had even had his head back on straight, and Steve was an Avenger now, and Bucky… wasn't. Bucky was deadweight. In fact, caring for these kids was the first useful thing he felt like he'd done in a long time. And wiping snot off a super assassin's nose didn't exactly make up for fifty-plus years of doing, well, the opposite. It also didn't help that Bucky's memory was patchy at best. Some things he remembered perfectly clearly and some were completely gone. He couldn't help wondering if maybe something had happened between them and he just didn't know. If they'd broken up before the ice, would Steve have told him? Bucky shifted sideways out of Steve's hold and Steve's step hardly faltered.

Down in the lab, Peter sat the kids in a ring on the floor and started setting up for their experiment, repeating the word "explosion" whenever any attention seemed to be wandering towards the other shiny things they kept down here. Step one seemed to be making playdough, and step two was going to be to form it into a volcano and make it erupt.

"What's up minivengers!" came a voice from the stairs and they all turned to find MJ there with the strap of a duffel bag hooked over her shoulder. "Wow, you weren't kidding." She let the duffel bag fall as the kids all clamoured around her. "What are you guys up to?"

"We're making a bolcano," Natasha explained, eyes wide as she stared up at MJ with reverence. "It's gonna explode."

"Wow, shit, amazing. Let's do that." MJ pulled on the safety glasses offered to her by Tony.

Bucky poked Clint in the back. "Hey, swear boy. Why doesn't MJ have to fill the jar?"

Clint half-shrugged like the answer was obvious. "Cause she scares me," he said matter-of-factly.

"What? And I don't?"

Clint shrugged again.

Bucky resigned himself to pouting on the sidelines for the rest of the experiment. The play dough killed a lot of time, especially after MJ found food coloring, and by the time it was actually formed into a volcano, it had been many other things first. The rainbow of colors had been mashed into a muddy sort of brown, but thankfully that was thematically appropriate.

Peter mixed up something for the base and put it in the bottom of the beaker they'd formed the volcano around. He took another beaker of the "lava maker" and earned everyone's oos and aahs. He guided Tony's hand as he poured the liquid in and the whole room held its breath, waiting. Bucky had to admit, even he flinched and yelped when the "lava" exploded out of the middle of the volcano and rained down onto the floor.

"Yay!" Tony screeched. "Did you see that?!" He grabbed Bruce's arm and shook a vigorous nod of the smaller.

"And now it's time for popsicles!" MJ declared.

A small spec ops squad was dispatched to the freezer and came back bearing two full boxes of popsicles, orange being coveted deeply enough to nearly lead to three fights, which Peter and MJ handled gracefully. Once the kids were crawling all over Tony's bot, pressing sticky fingers to his struts and wheels, Bucky found the box and took out a purple treat for himself.

Bucky handed Peter a popsicle of his own and sat on the bottom stair beside him, watching the kids climb all over DUM-E. "Thanks," Bucky said.

Peter turned wide eyes on Bucky, clearly expecting anything but that. "Um. Wow. You're welcome. Mr. - uh - um - Sergeant… soldier… sir."

Bucky snorted. "Bucky's fine."

"Oh, right, of course." There was an awkward upturn at the end of Peter's sentence, like he wanted to add Bucky's name but couldn't quite bring himself to.

Steve returned from his trip to the garbage can with a handful of wrappers, and Bucky frowned when Tony caught sight of Steve and ducked down behind DUM-E's casing, cheeks going red. Bucky sighed. "It's killing Steve," he mumbled.

Peter tracked Bucky's gaze. "That Tony's scared of him?"

"I would have said 'hates him'. He tell you he's scared?"

"Well, no… not in so many words. But it's Cap." Peter gestured vaguely as if that was an answer.

"What do you mean?"

"He's Captain America." Peter gestured again. "Tony had posters of him over his bed and a pile of his comic books in his closet. He's not real. He's an action figure. He's a superhero…" Peter's voice had drifted into the same territory as Tony's sometimes did, and Bucky was finally starting to see what he was talking about.

"He's intimidated by him?"

Peter sighed. "He's meeting his hero, Mr. Barnes."

"Oh." Bucky watched Tony peek out from behind DUM-E's arm to watch Steve talking to Clint. "How do you know?"

"Ha." Peter raised an eyebrow in Bucky's direction. "Because three years ago, I came home to find Tony fucking Stark sitting on my couch, talking to my aunt. I’d met him a few times, and he knew I was Spiderman, but having him on my couch, kinda flirting with my aunt? Whole other ball game." He gestured towards tiny Tony whose mouth had fallen open as he watched. "And that's the face I made. Only like… with better hair and more acne."

“You never had better hair,” MJ called and Peter rolled his eyes affectionately.

“She have super hearing, too?” Bucky asked.

“Nah, she just likes to bust my balls a little and has a scary skill for eavesdropping,” Peter said. “MJ has put herself in charge of reminding me that no matter what my body can do, I’m still Peter Parker and that’s who she loves. Anyway, I did have better hair than the curly bowl cut Tony’s rocking, no matter what she says.”

"How'd you get over it with Tony?"

Peter shrugged. "Kinda had to. I wanted to work with him, and he doesn't really like the fawning. Or, well, he does, but he doesn't like it when it makes him feel like he's not as close to people as he wants to be. Also he showed me his workshop and I got to see sort of what he's really like. Made him feel more like a person and less like a marble statue on a pedestal. I wouldn't worry about it too much, honestly. He's okay." Peter smiled and stood, stretching out.

"How did you get to be so perceptive?" Bucky asked.

Peter spread his arms wide in a surprisingly Tony-like gesture. "Haven't you heard? I'm Spider-Man!" He tapped his forehead. "I've got spider senses."

"Yes, cause spiders are well known for their social accuity."

Peter just laughed and walked back over to the group, biting off the last of his popsicle. "Do you guys want to make our own versions of DUM-E out of these popsicle sticks?"

Where did this kid get all these ideas? The answer was a resounding ‘yes’ so Peter and MJ marched the tots back upstairs so they could set up a table with glue and glitter. There was no doubt going to be a truly enormous cleaning bill when all of this was over, but that was grownup Stark's problem, not Bucky's.

"Hey." Bucky grabbed Steve's sleeve and held him back as the rest of the group followed MJ towards the stairs.

"What's wrong?" Steve dropped his voice low, standing close, and it took Bucky a moment to remember why he was there.

"Peter said something interesting to me. About how Tony's problem with you might be less dislike and more like… hero worship?"

Steve's face twisted up. "You think he worships me? He won't even talk to me."

"Yeah, he's intimidated. He's meeting his hero and he's afraid to say the wrong thing or upset you. We don't know what Howard said about you back then. He was still looking for you, right? Kid probably had posters and comics and stories from his old man about how great you were."

"Howard only saw me as a fantastic scientific achievement. I don't think he really cared much what I was like as a person."

"But Tony's six, man. All he knows is that you're a superhero and his dad thought you were amazing. He doesn't care why."

Steve's brow furrowed and he dropped his gaze to the floor. "How does that help me get him to trust me, exactly?"

"Because now you know he thinks you're cool. Give him a chance to really talk to you, one on one, and I think you'll find he opens up a bit. Or at the very least, you can't make it worse than it already is."

"Wow, thanks Buck."

"Hey, pal, usually you are amazing at making it worse than it already is, so take the win."

Steve grumbled but let himself be dragged back upstairs. They built popsicle stick robots then made hot dogs for lunch. Steve tried calling Pepper, but she was in a meeting and Steve knew she'd call him back as soon as she could. After lunch, MJ informed Bucky that the kids needed to take a nap.

"That's your problem with bedtime, you know. They're too tired."

"They're too tired… to sleep?" Bucky asked.

MJ nodded then snapped her gum. "Kids don't know what they want. But if they're too tired they definitely know that all they want is to do the opposite of what you ask. Naptime. It'll solve a lot of your problems."

Tony and Bruce declared they were too old for naps, but MJ informed them that they didn't have to sleep, but they had to stay quietly in their rooms for at least an hour and read a book or play with some toys. Since the only toys they had were a few action figures MJ had brought from her neighbors, Tony opted for a Scientific American, and Bruce found a book about stars on one of the common area bookshelves.

Peter and MJ took the mini-spies to bed while Steve helped Tony and Bruce get settled in their rooms, and Bucky did a loop around the common floor, cleaning up spilled juice, projectile hot dog buns, and overenthusiastic mustard. The glue and glitter was a hopeless affair.

When Steve still hadn't come back down in over ten minutes, Bucky went searching for him. As he approached Tony's room, he heard low voices so he slowed down and peeked his head around the corner.

Tony was sitting in Steve's lap with the Captain America shield spread out over his legs, Steve holding one edge so it wouldn't slide away. Tony's tiny fingers gripped the edge, his other hand cradling his surprisingly accurate, popsicle stick DUM-E model close to his chest. "And then you just throw it as hard as you can and it'll bounce right back," he was saying.

"Yeah, exactly," Steve said. "You'll be strong enough to throw it in no time. You know, I used to be even smaller than you. Even when I got older."

"I know. But then you took the magic serum and got really big and then no one would say no to you or tell you to stop doing anything."

"Well… not no one."

Tony's mouth fell open. "Who tells you what to do?"

Steve's lips split into a soft, warm smile. "Well, Bucky for one."

Tony nodded in understanding. "Yeah. Uncle Bucky tells me what to do too. Cause he's a grownup and I'm only little but also he has this." Tony made a scowling face, holding his arms up like he had huge muscles.

Steve burst out laughing. "Yeah. That works on me too."

Tony settled back against Steve's lap, snuggling into his chest, and Bucky's heart skipped a few beats at how soft and domestic an image it painted. He knew, objectively, that Tony wasn't a real child, but watching Steve with a lapful of affectionate kiddo was twisting Bucky up in ways he didn't know he could be twisted up.

"Can you tell me a comic book?"

"You want me to read you a comic book?"

"No, like… you said it really happened, sort of but also not really, so can you tell me a comic book? That happened?"

"Oh, like a story about being Captain America?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, yeah. I can do that." Steve curled an arm around Tony's waist, letting the shield slide down, and leaned back on one hand.

Bucky shifted back around the corner and slipped off down the hall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The softness continues next week!


	4. Chapter 4

Steve saw Pepper lick her lips through the video call and knew Peter was right and he should have called her earlier.

“I think I should come home,” Pepper said. and Steve shook his head.

“Absolutely not, we have it under control,” Steve said. “I know this trade show is huge for SI - Tony was on an engineering binge for weeks for it. I’m not screwing that up because I can’t handle a few kids.”

Pepper snorted. “Steve, I say this with all the affection that I can muster right now on six hours of sleep over three days, but you can barely handle them when they’re adults.”

“Pepper, six hours of -”

“Jet lag is still not something I can handle well, no matter how often I travel, and do not change the subject, Captain.”

He bit his lip and grinned. In the process of managing the Avengers over the past few years, he and Pepper had actually gotten a lot closer than he ever thought they’d be. She’d made it clear that her first priorities were always Tony and SI, but as long as whatever he was doing was going to keep Tony safe and SI intact, Pepper had told Steve he had her full support.

Plus, she’d caught him staring at Bucky once.

_“You love him,” Pepper said quietly._

_They were all on the roof of the Tower, having a cookout. Bucky’d had a great day in therapy and had remembered a whole chunk of their childhood he hadn’t previously. In fact, it was the first day Bucky had remembered they were together in the Before._

_Steve had not been prepared for how much that would hurt._

_“I do,” he whispered back, knowing that lying to Pepper would serve no purpose, since she was second only to Nat in knowing things._

_“Forever?”_

_“I fell in love with him when I was 15, Pep,” Steve replied, keeping his voice low and his eyes on Bucky. “He’d been my best friend for years, and so I’m sure it had been building, but he got sick that summer. A cold, basically, but he’d never really gotten sick before. That was my job. And in my mind, when people got sick, they were always likely to die, always, because I knew with every rattle of my lungs that I was on borrowed time. But yeah, he was sick and I realized that i never fathomed a life without him, never imagined it was possible, and that was it for me. I knew then that I never wanted to live without James Barnes in my life.”_

_“And you’ve had to for a long time,” Pepper replied. “This must feel like a miracle.”_

_“It does,” he admitted. “But also, I have no idea if he wants that again.”_

_“You could ask him?”_

_Steve shook his head slightly. “I don’t want to put any pressure on him. It's a miracle he even remembers me at all. I can't ask for more.”_

_Pepper was quiet for a minute before she snorted and got up. “You’re an idiot, and I’m going to get more pie. You want some?”_

_Steve stared after her, completely confused as to what she meant._

“Yes, ma’am,” Steve replied.

Pepper sighed and rubbed her face a bit, clearly lost in thought. “So, Jarvis already rescheduled everything and you’re working with Strange?”

“Does anyone ‘work with’ Strange?”

Pepper snorted. “Touche. But you’re the point of contact for His Weirdness?”

“I have a sinking feeling he’s dimension hopping, which means I’m going to have to explain to Bucky what dimension hopping is -”

“He’s not made of glass, Steve.”

“- and the fact that we fought toasters was already a bit much for him.”

“You know,” Pepper said lightly, “you could just-”

“No, Virginia,” Steve said, in the tone that usually made her stop. “And, to address your earlier point, Peter and MJ have been a big help in figuring out what we need to do to keep them all safe and occupied.”

“You’ve outsourced your parenting to a woman of color,” Pepper cocked an eyebrow. “How exceptionally typical.”

Steve scowled and then sighed. “I have, but we’re paying her and Peter, I promise.”

“I’d assume so,” Pepper smiled. “I just wanted to make sure you were connecting the dots.”

“Thank you,” Steve said sincerely. Pepper was one of the people he trusted to teach him how to be a better leader, which meant how to see the world from as many perspectives as possible. Learning about childhood trauma was probably one of the only reasons he hadn’t killed Tony for insubordination, frankly.

“But she’s still young, so let me take care of some other things,” Pepper said, and Steve heard the tap of keys on a keyboard. “Are all the beds age appropriate?”

“No one has gotten hurt,” Steve replied.

“Not an answer,” Pepper laughed. “I’ll arrange with Jarvis to make sure. Now, what about when you have to take them places?”

“Pep, I’m sure Strange will have this wrapped up in a day or two,” Steve replied.

“Yes, because Stephen Strange is so known for his relationship to human time. I’ll take that as a ‘Master Strategist Hadn’t Gotten There Yet’ and have a van with all the safety equipment purchased and delivered to the Tower garage. Food?”

“That’s been okay,” Steve said. “Although Clint won’t eat any food that’s yellow, so that’s been interesting when all Tony wants to eat is macaroni and cheese.”

Pepper laughed. “I’m not surprised. I swear he’s made of Easy Mac as an adult. I keep telling him that it’s not food and he tells me he’s a child of the 70s and therefore full of chemicals already and it’s how he’s so well preserved.”

Steve snorted. “I miss him, Pep. I miss them all.”

“Well,” she said softly, “let’s trust that Strange is on top of it, and in the meantime, all joking aside, I’m sure you and Bucky are doing a great job.”

“I’m not so sure,” Steve admitted.

“You know my friend Gracie?”

“The one who does all the empathy training for SI?”

“She’s the one,” Pepper nodded. “She was a child psychologist before she was a corporate trainer and she always says that the most fundamental things for a kid is that they know they’re loved and safe. Everything else is fixable. Just make sure they know they’re loved and safe.”

“I’m not telling my teammates I love them, Pep,” Steve scoffed.

“You may not use the words, but I know you love them, and they know you love them, so I was trying to be encouraging, you muppet,” Pepper rolled her eyes. “And they’re kids, a few of whom never heard it from their biological parents, so I’d give it a whirl.”

“Good point,” Steve grumbled.

“I do make them,” Pepper’s eyes twinkled as she laughed. “Now, please tell me all of the embarrassing Tony stories that we never really got.”

Steve laughed. “Well, last night, when it was time for a bath, I found him and Bruce pouring juice in the water with them and they patiently explained to me that they wanted a spa bath like Big Tony takes and spa baths always smell like pineapple.”

Pepper started laughing and when they ended the call about thirty minutes later, Steve felt better than he had in days. She was right - all they had to do was make sure they were safe and loved until Strange showed back up.

And if he could do it without completely losing his mind over how hot Bucky was as a dad, that would be a bonus.

* * *

Steve was jerked out of sleep once again to Nat's crying, piped in through JARVIS's speakers. "Ugh." He rolled over and took a few deep, slow breaths then hauled himself out of bed. He'd asked JARVIS not to wake Bucky for her tonight; he'd looked tired all day.

Steve found Nat sitting on the floor under a chair, sobbing, and he bent down and opened his arms. "Hug?"

She nodded then flung herself in his hold, burrowing her face into his neck. She felt so small and vulnerable. Steve's heart clenched. It was hard to imagine Natasha ever being vulnerable, but this had really been her at one point. And most likely, there hadn't been anyone there to comfort her.

"Want MJ," Nat whispered.

"She's not here. Tomorrow, though. You're okay, sweetheart," Steve assured her. "It's nothing laundry can't fix."

"I don't want to," she said with an exaggerated pout, and Steve wiped his thumbs across her cheeks.

"I know. It's not your fault. I know you're trying." Steve wondered if maybe there was some technology they didn't know about that could help. He had to remember to ask Pepper, Peter, or MJ about that later. For now…

He took Nat to the bathroom and stripped her down then put her in fresh pajamas. He sat her in the chair she'd been hiding under and replaced the sheets with clean ones. Then he pulled her tiny body up into his arms and snuggled down on her bed, letting her curl into his side. "Just close your eyes, honey."

He stayed there, watching as she drifted off to sleep again. He'd told Pepper he thought it would only be a day or two but he couldn't ignore the hulking thought at the back of his mind that it might be longer. And it wasn't like any pain, fear, or discomfort they experienced as kids didn't matter just because they were fully expected to be adults again any day now. It was still his job to protect them, and that wasn't just from villains.

Steve shushed Nat gently when she stirred in her sleep and rubbed his hand up and down her back.

"Wet the bed again?" came a soft whisper from the doorway, and Steve looked up sharply.

"Buck. I thought you were sleeping."

"Tony woke me up. He had a 'brilliant idea about the structural integrity of styrofoam' and needed me to write it down."

Steve quirked an eyebrow. "Couldn't he have just asked JARVIS to remember?"

Bucky shrugged. "It was important that I bear witness to his genius. You know what that kid's like."

Steve checked on Nat and found she was breathing softly, mouth open and eyes closed. He pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead then slipped out from under her. He pulled the blankets up over her shoulders then walked out with Bucky. "So what was Tony's breakthrough?"

"Honestly? No clue. Didn't understand a word."

* * *

MJ and Peter couldn't come til the afternoon, so the next morning, Steve and Bucky set the kids up with paper and crayons and encouraged them to draw. Nat got frustrated early on, so Steve doodled a few cartoon animals on her page for her and let her colour them in, perched on his lap. Tony drew blueprints for the heist he and Bruce were planning at the bank, and Bruce drew stunningly detailed models of spaceships in every colour of the rainbow. Clint, as far as Steve could tell from across the table, was drawing the team.

Bucky was in the kitchen, prepping snacks and cutting up vegetables for lunch, and Steve handed crayons to Nat as she requested them, blatantly making moon eyes at Bucky in between color changes.

He actually felt free to wallow in his feelings for the first time in a long time. Bucky didn't seem to notice, busy as he was, and their teammates were too young to understand. So Steve let himself, just for a little while, sink into pining.

There was no question in his mind that he still loved Bucky, but there was also no question that Bucky had changed. Steve had changed too. And yet, even this new Bucky was so easy for him to love. It wasn't the same, but it felt like it was built on their past, a new storey on a solid foundation, or maybe a plant stretching up towards the light and unfurling new leaves.

As for Bucky, Steve now knew that Bucky remembered loving him, but that wasn't the same as loving him now.

"Steve… we were… we were together, weren't we. Before?"

Steve swallowed hard. "You remember?"

"Yeah. It's coming back in bits and pieces. You used to…" Bucky looked down at his metal hand, flexed the fingers. "Hold my hand."

Steve nodded slowly. "I did."

"Okay. So that's real."

"That's real."

"Okay." And Bucky walked away.

He hadn't expected it to hurt so much, like losing him a second time. Maybe he'd subconsciously hung his hopes on Bucky's memory, like as soon as his brain rebuilt that connection, he'd immediately fly into Steve's arms. But it wasn't fair to ask that of him, not at all. Especially not when there were still memories Bucky hadn't recovered and maybe never would. Especially after Bucky had spent so much time with his choices taken away from him. All Steve could do was be here, not push, not pressure, and maybe they could rekindle their old flame. Or maybe Steve would just quietly love him forever.

"Done," said Clint's voice at Steve's elbow.

"Oh." Steve shifted Nat to his other knee so he could take Clint's drawing with one hand. "Oh." He stared at the drawing.

Clint had, in fact, drawn the team. His stick figures were surprisingly clear and well formed. In the background, was Avengers Tower, squashed and disproportionate, but easily discernible. In front, stood the whole team, along with Pepper, Peter, and MJ.

Steve and Bucky were just left of centre, with Clint and Nat taking the spotlight, but it was still his own rendition that had caught Steve's attention and couldn't let it go. His little stick figure hand was wrapped tightly around Bucky's little stick figure hand and over exaggerated lips popped out of both of them to press together in a kiss.

Well that was… unexpected.

"Um," Steve started. A shadow fell over him: Bucky. Steve forced out an awkward laugh, wanting to tear the picture up and keep it under his pillow at the same time. "Clint why did you -"

"Why is my arm neon pink?" Bucky asked, interrupting.

Clint crossed his own arms. "It's called art."

Steve wasn't sure if Clint was extending his artistic license to just his colour choices or as far as his matchmaking ideas as well. But he knew that arms crossed would go into a temper tantrum really quickly if he didn’t react better and fast.

“And every artist gets to express themselves how they want,” Steve said. “Thanks, Clint.”

The little boy beamed. “You are welcome,” he emphasized the final word for reasons clear only to him and then scampered off to get into further mischief that would probably stress Steve out later. The more pressing issue, however, was the look on Bucky’s face.

Is he freaking out that Clint thinks we’re together? Is he not ready for this? Is he -

“Neon pink is a terrible stealth look,” Bucky responded, cutting off Steve’s line of questioning. “But I don’t hate it. Maybe I’ll ask Stark when he’s big again to make me decorative sleeves or something. Then I could drive Nat crazy by intentionally mixing patterns the way she’s always complaining about.”

“She has a real thing about people wearing stripes and polka dots at the same time,” Steve admitted as he forced himself to focus on what Bucky was really reacting to instead of the narrative in his head.

“I miss fucking with them,” Bucky said. “There are less ways to blow off steam when they’re snack size.”

Entirely unbidden, Steve saw flashes of the ways they used to blow off steam, back when he was small and the stress of poverty got to be too much. He blinked a few times to clear his brain. “We’ll get them back, Buck.”

“Yeah, I know,” Bucky smiled softly. “Still.”

“I know,” Steve agreed. “I know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tune in next time for some more adorable parenting and super soliders using their words... ish.


	5. Chapter 5

The evenings had already taken on a natural rhythm and routine that Bucky had to admit he appreciated. MJ's advice about naps helped almost immediately, and without discussing it, Bucky and Steve agreed that Steve would be in charge of bedtime, and Bucky would be in charge of cleaning up.

Bucky had always been the tidier one, growing up, and having the technology of the future made things easier and faster. Steve had also found his calling as Master of Bedtime. The kids went up and changed into their pajamas then picked out the books they wanted. Steve started with Nat and Clint together, read them a book then carried Clint back to his room to tuck him in. Next he checked on Bruce who preferred to read his own book and turned out the light. Then came Tony, who always wanted as many books as possible, usually enticing Steve into stories of his own as well.

Last, he went back to Nat's room to tuck her back in because, as Steve said, "Apparently her insomnia started really, really young."

While he was doing that, it gave Bucky enough time to pick up the toys, start the kids' laundry, scrub crayon off the coffee table, vacuum, load the dishwasher, and figure out where Tony hid his daily stash of popsicle sticks, bartered off the other kids. They suspected he was attempting to build a life-size popsicle DUM-E, but he wouldn't confess.

Tonight, it turned out MJ and Peter had tidied a bit already, and Bucky found he finished cleaning up before Steve had reappeared, begging for a beer. There were more dishes than could fit in one load, so Bucky started the washer right away, planning to reload it in time for Tony's automatically scheduled run in the night.

Hoping to catch the end of one of Steve's _highly_ sanitized Howlie stories, Bucky shuffled upstairs and checked each kid's room one by one. Clint, Bruce, and Tony were snoring softly, but Steve was in Nat's room, reading from a book called _Where's My Shell?_ about a slug that wanted to be a snail.

Bucky leaned one shoulder against the wall and crossed his arms, listening just out of view while Steve read. Nat was propped up on a pile of pillows, one arm around her stuffed rabbit and her other thumb in her mouth. Her eyes were fixed on Steve, but every time she blinked, her lids drooped a little longer, a little lower.

Then they popped wide open. "I have to pee!" she announced, squirming where she sat.

"Okay! Okay!" Steve scooped her up and zipped her to the bathroom, double-taking when he saw Bucky hovering in the doorway. He reappeared a moment later - Nat categorically did not need help (except when she did) - and met Bucky's eye. "Should we be worried?"

Bucky shook his head and shrugged. "I don't know. Isn't it normal for a three year old to have to pee all the time?"

"But so much at night? I did some googling -"

"Watch your language, Stevie. Clint will sleepwalk in here with his damn jar."

Steve rolled his eyes. "I know you know what googling is. Anyway, apparently it's not that normal. And there was a bunch of stuff about trauma and how it can cause bed wetting. Especially since she hasn't had a single accident during the day. We know Nat had a challenging childhood, but was it really that bad, this young?"

Bucky wandered over to her bed and fluffed her pillow. He picked up the stuffed rabbit that had fallen to the floor. "Is there even anything we can do? She's not really a three-year-old."

"I know." Steve sighed. "I just worry about her. She's been up at three every single morning since this started."

Bucky stood up straighter and squinted at the wall over Nat's headboard. "Uh. Did you say three?"

"Yeah."

"Exactly three?"

"Yeah, it's always the same time. Except tonight. Never had her run to the bathroom during storytime, before. Is it getting worse?"

Bucky placed his hand over the wall then followed it with his ear. "Come here, Steve. Tell me what you hear."

Steve took his place and pressed his ear to the wall. "Water?"

"Three a.m. That's when the dishwasher is set to run automatically. I ran it early tonight because it's a two-load day and I was going to re-fill it before bed. The pipes must run right through this wall. It didn't bother her when she was an adult - just a little white noise - but as a kid still mastering potty training…"

"Oh my god."

"J, can you cancel the dishwasher?"

"Of course, sir."

The soft, distant sound of running water stopped.

"Holy shit." Steve stared at the wall for a moment then burst out laughing. "I can't believe it. I was so worried about her."

"That's because you're such a sweetheart," Bucky murmured, cheeks heating when he realized what he'd said.

But Steve's fingers curled around his wrist and gave a little squeeze. "Hey, JARVIS? What if you put the auto-schedule on pause and we'll wash by hand? Or, if you can run it during the day, while we're doing something else, that'd be great."

"I'll do my best to run it at the most convenient time possible, Captain."

Nat reappeared, and Bucky hooked her under her armpits and deposited her back in bed. "There you go, honey. I bet you have a really good night's sleep tonight."

"Okay. Thanks Uncle Bucky." She reached for her stuffed bunny and looked at Steve. "Can we read Snail again?"

"Of course. Tuck in."

She snuggled down under her blankets while Steve found the book. But before sitting down, he grabbed Bucky's wrist and gave him another squeeze. "Thank you."

"Join me for a beer after?"

"Yeah."

Bucky left them to their story. He grabbed two beers from the fridge then took the elevator up to the roof, trusting JARVIS to let Steve know where he was. The air was fresh and cool up there, the breeze blowing away the stress of the last few days. Bucky settled in one of the rickety armchairs Clint and Thor had dragged up, much to Tony's horror.

It felt more satisfying, somehow, to take the break at the end of a day of hard work, instead of at the end of a long stretch of hours doing nothing. Or, well, not doing nothing exactly, but trying to unscramble his own brains felt like less of a task and more like mindless, pointless flailing, every day.

And yet… just the thought started to bubble things to the surface. Bucky closed his eyes and let the old, faded feelings roll over him. The memories didn't always come with images or context, and he knew that bothered Steve, it felt unrecovered to him, but it was the feelings Bucky wanted back more than anything.

Soft movement next to him let Bucky know Steve had arrived. There was a snick of a top being popped off a beer bottle, bubbles fizzing into the air. "You alright, Buck?"

"We stole beer once…" Bucky started, but with the details gone, he couldn't turn the rest into a story.

Steve snorted. "We stole beer more than once."

Bucky waded through the echoes, trying to find something he could put into words. When he couldn't, he merely held his hand out, palm up, towards Steve. There was a sharp intake of breath and then Steve's hand landed in his. Bucky wound their fingers together. "And you tripped and broke the bottle…" Bucky added.

"And you helped me up," Steve said breathlessly. "Like this." He squeezed Bucky's hand. "And then, even when I was up, you didn't let go."

"Didn't want to let go." Bucky blinked his eyes open, finding Steve's soft smile and damp eyes.

Steve laughed. "That's not what you said to me."

"What did I say to you?"

"You said, 'Hold on to me so you don't fall on your dumb ass again, Rogers, and break something worse than a beer.'"

"Hold on to me," Bucky echoed. That was the name for the feeling. He took a sip of his beer and Steve mirrored the movement, not attempting to reclaim his hand.

"Nat's hair is too long for her. It keeps getting tangled and she hates combing it. Come to think of it, Bruce is pretty shaggy too. Do you think we need to get their hair cut? Where would we even go?"

"Mrs. Salvino," Bucky answered promptly, because that memory just beamed in wholly formed.

"You remember that?"

"Yeah, weirdly. She'd sit on the fire escape with a pair of scissors and cut all the kids' hair. And all you could do was hope you'd get in early, before she got frustrated with all the squirming. I distinctly remember the sound of the scissors."

"And also hope the wind was blowin' away from your window or you'd end up with some kid's hair in your soup."

"You coulda used anything extra in your soup, Stevie."

"Ew, Buck."

Bucky laughed, realizing too late that he'd dropped Steve's hand when he moved to grab his beer again. Steve shifted his back into his lap and it felt weird to ask for it back, like the moment was over.

Steve was looking at the rim of his beer bottle with something sad and faraway twisting his brow.

"What?" Bucky pushed.

"Doesn't it bother you? That you can't remember?" He winced. "Sorry, that's a shitty thing to ask. I mean, you seem okay with it - are you really?"

Bucky was quiet for a long time, getting his thoughts in order; he knew Steve would wait for him. "When I first started this whole recovery thing… when I couldn't remember something, it felt like another memory deleted. How it used to feel when they'd take things from me. I'd see something that I knew I should remember, or you'd talk about the Howlies, or very pointedly not talk about something to protect me, and it'd feel like, 'shit, that's another one deleted.'

"But then some of it started to trickle back in, like there was a hole in the dam. And I realized they weren't gone, just blocked up. That's okay. It means they didn't take them from me. It means I can get them back, and they'll come when they're ready. Not like there isn't plenty of new shit I have to squish in there. No… I remember what it feels like to be Bucky Barnes and it feels like a goddamn fucking victory to have that back."

Steve raised his bottle in Bucky's direction. "Feels like a goddamn fucking victory to me to have that back too."

Bucky clinked their bottles together and took a long pull. "You'd tell me, though, if I was missing something about… us, right?"

"What do you mean?" Steve sounded instantly on edge and Bucky tensed.

"I mean… I've remembered some of what we were like together. Am I missing anything big? We were okay, right? Still… the train. Were we still together at the train?"

The corners of Steve's eyes hardened, lips going tight and firm. The sad, faraway look was making Bucky's heart ache. "Yeah, Buck. We were still together. Always, til the end of the line. Do you think you remember something different?"

"No. No, all I remember is… us." Bucky flexed his fingers again. Hold on to me. "But I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something big. You can tell me. Even if I can't remember."

"I'd tell you. Now that you have part of it, if there was more, I'd tell you."

Bucky shot him a grin. "I know there's more."

Bless him, Steve's cheeks flushed. "Well." He tilted his beer bottle into the light. "You'd probably need to get several more of this in me before I went there."

"Several hundred, more like. Why do we even drink at all?"

Steve shrugged. "It's comforting. Cause we remember. Stolen beers… stolen moments."

"Yeah." Bucky looked out at the city lights again, twinkling beneath them. He wondered when everything would stop feeling stolen. Maybe it never would. "Do we need to cut their hair? They probably won't be kids much longer, right?"

Steve shot him a curious look and Bucky wondered if he'd wound too much longing into his tone. "Plus, we don't know how it’s going to affect their hair when they get turned back. Nat might kill us. She's been trying to grow it out."

"We could try, like, braiding it or something?"

Steve nodded. "Maybe. Can't be harder than knitting, right?"

"You were always shit at knitting, Stevie."

"Oh so that you remember," Steve huffed out.

* * *

Day Four of their new reality dawned bright and early for both men, even though they'd both stayed on the roof too late, talking. Bucky was summoned to Tony’s room to soothe a nightmare and Steve had naturally woken up at three am - apparently conditioned now - but even though Nat had been sleeping peacefully with the dishwasher off, he hadn't been able to fall back asleep. Bucky’d gotten Tony back to bed, and then stumbled into the kitchen to find Steve also there attempting to pry his energy reserves open with coffee. Bucky joined him on the couch with a steaming mug of his own. Turned out the serum was no match for a group of children.

Last night still felt present in a way Bucky couldn't shake. He could still feel Steve's hand in his and it made him keyed up and restless. The urge to grab Steve and kiss him was starting to become a perpetual itch he needed to scratch.

“What does a six-year-old have nightmares about?” Steve asked Bucky around a yawn.

Bucky ran his hand over his face and grimaced. “I used to think that Tony’s drama, all the stuff you told me and that he told me, it all started with Afghanistan, but I think it’s been there his whole life, Stevie.”

“You think Howard hit him?” Steve’s face was twisted with pain and Bucky was quick to correct him.

“No,” Bucky shook his head. “At least not yet, because I’m not sure he didn’t hit him later, but our Tony right now only talks about being sent to his room without food and Jarvis and Mrs. Jarvis sneaking food up to him. He was really confused tonight when he woke up - it’s like they’re all stuck between two worlds right now. He knew who I was and was glad I was there, but also couldn’t understand why Jarvis wasn’t there.”

“I started reading about child psychology today,” Steve said as he idly swirled his coffee.

Bucky snorted. “I’m surprised it took you four days, ya nerd.”

Steve lazily flipped Bucky off and Bucky’s heart skipped a beat. These moments where it was just them - where Cap and Soldier were left outside the conversation and it was just two orphans from Brooklyn, who had been each other’s whole worlds until the world made different choices for them - these moments were his favorite. Steve never told anyone else to go fuck themselves and Bucky believed it was because that piece of Steve Rogers was a piece only Bucky was allowed to see.

He was torn between his heart breaking that Steve still performed for everyone else, and wanting to hoard the private moments like a dragon would hoard gold.

“You know,” Bucky said, “I used to think about this. I used to wonder what it would be like to be a father with you. I mean, it wasn’t gonna happen then, but I figured if we talked some ladies into living next door and… You and Pegs woulda made pretty kids, Stevie.”

Steve snorted. “She didn’t want them, not with me. I’m glad she found Daniel and wanted them with him, but…”

“What?”

“We talked one night, before I went to get you, about what it would look like when we got out, where we would live, and her life for her at that point was staying in England and working for MI6 and she was adamant that I’d have to move to London and, well, I was fine with it because I didn’t know where you were or if I’d see you again or anything and then…”

“And then Azzano,” Bucky whispered. “And you never talked again?”

“There was a bit with a plane that made it a challenge,” Steve replied.

"Did you ever think about it? Us having kids?"

Steve's eyes flicked over to the window and far away. "Not really. I mean, not that I didn't want them, I just didn't think about it because it wasn’t like we were ever going to get them without… it was how many years until gay adoption was legal? No, I just wanted you. I didn't go much past that. After everything, it seemed greedy to ever think about wanting more."

Bucky took another sip of his drink, drawing strength from it. "What do you think about now?" It came out barely more than a whisper.

Steve turned his head to look at Bucky and when their eyes met they didn't part. He lifted one hand and laid it across the back of the couch, his hand right next to Bucky's face. When he brushed his knuckles along Bucky's cheek, Bucky fluttered his eyes closed. "Pretty much the same things."

Bucky opened his eyes again and Steve was even closer. Bucky couldn't pull away from that bright blue he'd fallen in love with a lifetime ago. Maybe he just needed to lean in. They could dance around each other forever, but so much time had already been wasted, already been lost. And the look Steve was giving him now? Bucky remembered that look. Those eyes, he'd never forget.

Bucky let his fingers twitch forward until they landed on Steve's knee. "Do you - do you remember…?" He meant to ask do you remember your birthday in ‘36, where they'd first kissed, but either Steve read his mind or he just couldn't wait anymore. He met Bucky halfway, lips slotting together like there hadn't been decades between them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look everyone! They used words and (maybe) tongues! 
> 
> Tune in next week for more adventures in temporary parenting.


	6. Chapter 6

"It's called kissing," came Clint's voice, sotto voce, from the hallway. "My brother told me about it. But he always said it had to be with a girl."

"It doesn't have to be a girl," Bruce shot back. "It's still kissing."

"Well, it's gross."

"It means Uncle Bucky and Uncle Steve love each other."

"No, it means they're making another baby."

"No. You can love each other without making a baby."

"Why?"

Steve broke the kiss and leaned his forehead against Bucky's. Ten minutes. All he asked for was ten minutes to rekindle his hundred-year-old love affair in peace. He looked over the back of the couch to find four pairs of eyes staring back at him.

"Are you getting married?" Natasha asked. "Can I be the flower girl?"

Tony pouted and stamped his foot. "I wanted to be the flower girl!"

Steve shook his head. "We're not getting married. Sometimes when adults like each other, they kiss. But it doesn't mean they're getting married or that they're making a baby. We have enough babies with you guys."

Bruce straightened up as tall as he could. "I'm not a baby," he grumbled.

"God, they'd be so cute as a little flock of flower Avengers, though," Bucky mused, and Steve shot him a look.

"Don't encourage them." Steve peered at Clint who had been awfully quiet. "Clint, you okay?"

He nodded, lips pressed together.

"Are you sure?"

"I was right!" Clint burst out, flinging his arms open and nearly braining Natasha with the swear jar. "I drew a picture and it came true." He stilled, staring wide eyed at his drawing on the far wall. "Do I have magic powers?"

"Yes," Bucky said immediately.

"Buck!"

"Anything to get him drawing for half an hour," he grumbled. "I had plans."

"We're not drawing," Steve said imperiously. "We're going to the park."

"How? What if we're spotted?"

"Tony owns property upstate. I’ll just get the address from Pep. I'm sure he has something with a yard large enough and private enough that they can run around safely," Steve explained. "I'll find a way to get us all there. Look, if we can get them to blast around for an hour or two, they'll crash early tonight." He raised a significant eyebrow. "And they'll sleep really well."

"Okay, okay. Park it is."

Steve texted Peter to bring MJ and meet them at the tower so they could all go up together. He was feeling more and more confident managing the mini-vengers, but he wasn't stupid. They needed one adult - or nearly adult, at least - for every child. He stopped by Thor's room and knocked on the door. "Thor?"

There was a vague, teenage grunt from inside.

"Do you want to come to the park with us? Peter and MJ are coming."

"I'm busy!" Thor yelled, and his music turned back up to near-deafening.

"Okay, then." Steve went to his own room and took a few cleansing breaths. He needed one more favour from Pepper. Steve pulled out his phone and tapped her contact.

_WhatsApp: Pepper Potts_

_Steve: Tony has some cabin outside the city, right?_

_Pepper: Yeah, it’s in the Hudson Valley, not super far. Why? You finally getting the kids out of the house?_

_Steve: You bought a van, figured we might as well use it._

_Pepper: So thrifty. I’ll send the directions to your phone and have JARVIS alert the staff to open it up for you._

_Steve: The staff?_

_Pepper: He employs a few people to keep it clean and secure, etc. It was Maria’s favorite place._

_Steve: Got it._

_Pepper: They’ll have it open for you, but hypothetically Tony’s fingerprint opens the door, so it should work anyway._

_Steve: We asked MJ and Peter to get snacks so tell the staff we don’t need food. We basically just need the lawn._

_Pepper: And toilets, Steve. You have children with you. You need toilets._

Steve snorted and put his phone back in his pocket. He threw a few things for himself in a bag. While Bucky got the kids slathered in sunscreen and changed, Steve went from room to room and packed a spare set of clothes for each kid, some toys and games for the car, and a few books.

Peter and MJ showed up half an hour later, and in the elevator with them was the picnic basket and four… things.

"What are those?" Steve asked.

"Car seats," MJ replied. “Pepper called us that she wasn’t sure she’d ordered the right ones the first time.”

Bucky frowned at them. "The car we're taking doesn't have seats already?"

"Not for the kids. You put them on top of the seats already there. They're too small for regular seatbelts. If we got in an accident, they'd get hurt. I'll show you how to install them."

Steve sighed and rolled his eyes. "So first you future people invent seatbelts and then the seatbelts aren't good enough so you make smaller seats to put on top of the other seats."

Bucky nodded. "We just bounced around inside like popcorn kernels. Builds character."

“And concussions,” MJ retorted.

"I'm hungry," Clint said.

"You just ate," Steve told him.

"I'm hungry again."

"Alright, Hawkeye!" Peter said. "I need someone really strong to help me carry this basket downstairs."

"Me!" Clint's arm shot up in the air and he danced on his toes. "I'm so strong."

"Okay. Come here."

Steve mouthed, thank you, over Clint's head, and Peter nodded. Three elevator trips later, they had the whole crew down in the garage. It took everyone, including Tony and Bruce, to figure out how to install the car seats, but after twenty minutes they got everyone sorted and secure. Steve counted the kids twice - Home Alone had been a good movie choice the other night, but it wasn't without a lasting impression - and climbed into the driver's seat.

"Big van," Bucky said from beside him.

"Yup."

"Big van in the city."

"Yup."

"Don't hit a taxi."

"Thank you for your faith in me, Buck." Steve put the van in reverse but then Bucky's hand darted out and squeezed his knee.

"You got this."

In the end, the drive took so much of his attention, it flew by. Peter and MJ entertained the kids, and Steve let the shouting and laughter stay as background noise while he focused on the road. It was a profound relief when they hit the country highway and all the taxis had remained undented.

With the traffic significantly lessened, part of Steve's mind was able to wander back to that morning. He honestly wasn't sure where that conversation would have gone if the kids hadn't interrupted. There was a part of him that was grateful they had. For all that Bucky's lips against his had done away with any worries that Bucky didn't want him anymore, it had only given a louder voice to the fear that want wasn't the problem here. Bucky could want him and still not want to be with him, not a relationship kind of way.

Steve glanced over towards the passenger seat and found Bucky nodding off against the window. The movement caught his eye and he pulled his gaze up to Steve's. "You okay?"

"This morning… I -"

Bucky reached over and squeezed Steve's knee again, letting his fingers brush up his thigh as he pulled them back. "I still think about pretty much the same things too, Stevie, all the family and future stuff. Even when it felt impossible I'd ever get them."

Steve let out a tight breath. "Okay." He offered Bucky an uncertain smile. "Date night tonight? After the kids are in bed?"

Bucky laughed softly. "Yeah, okay. You're on."

The rest of the drive was easier, with Steve's heart lighter. Bucky started snoring in the passenger seat after only a few minutes, but the van miraculously had JARVIS installed and he directed Steve to the lake house upstate.

They wound up a long, private drive and came to a halt in front of double garage doors. The house itself wasn't quite what Steve was expecting. He thought of metal and glass when he thought of Tony, but this house was wood and ivy, soft and alive instead of cool and modern. It was hard to picture Tony Stark here, but Steve could also see his touches in how well cared for everything was and the thumbprint scanner on the garage door.

Peter hopped out and pulled open the door, unbuckling kid after kid and letting them loose on the grounds. After two hours in the car they were full of pent up energy and Bruce and Clint immediately tore off across the grass, screeching and laughing.

"You'd better not put one foot in that pond!" Bucky warned, calling after them.

MJ patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Mr. Barnes. I've got it."

Steve pouted after her. "Does she make you feel kind of…"

"Useless?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah."

The first hour or so was pure chaos, and then Peter and MJ managed to wrangle the kids into a game that mostly seemed to involve joining hands and then charging into each other at top speed. There was a lot of laughing and only a few "ows" so Steve opted not to disrupt.

He and Bucky took a walk around the grounds and when they turned the corner behind the garage, Bucky's hand closed around his wrist. Steve twisted and opened his arms just in time to catch Bucky against his chest. Bucky pressed forward and kissed him.

Steve grinned into the kiss. "What about date night?"

"Just a little appetizer away from prying eyes."

"Where's Uncle Bucky?" came Tony's voice, right through the pine hedge.

Steve sighed. "You were saying?"

"Turns out they don't even need eyes on us to pry." Bucky kissed Steve again, quick and chaste but with a hint of promise and led him back to the open green lawn, hand-in-hand.

They joined the kids games until they started to get tired, then sat by the cooler, handing out snacks and drinks. Tony settled himself at Peter's feet, legs out long in front of him, several dandelions wound into his hair and two green patches marring the knees of his pants.

“Can we be friends still when I get big again?” Tony asked Steve quietly, carefully constructing a collection of sticks into a tower.

Steve’s heart broke just a little at the tone. “Of course, Tony. We are friends when you’re big and we’ll still be friends.”

“Like forever? Like on TV? Like Bert and Ernie?”

Steve heard Peter snort and he realized he was going to have to ask what that meant later. “Absolutely, Tony. You’re one of my best friends.”

“That’s nice. I’m glad Big Me has friends,” Tony continued. “I’m not ‘lowed to have anyone over because I’m not a good boy, that’s what Dad says, I haven’t earned it, and the kids at school all think I’m dumb ‘cuz I’m little but I’m not dumb.”

“Absolutely not,” Steve enforced. “You’re the smartest person I’ve ever met, Tony.”

Tony’s eyes got wide as he looked at Steve. “Even smarter than my dad?”

“Yeah, Shellhead,” Steve said, not able to catch the nickname before it slipped out. But, God, the way Tony said ‘my dad’ made Steve want to rub his chest from pain and also time travel to smack Howard around a little. “Even your dad, and Dr. Erskine, and your Aunt Peggy.”

Tony made a scoffing noise. “No one is smarter than Aunt Peggy.”

Steve laughed. “You’re probably right.”

“Why’d you call me Shellhead? I don’t have a shell on my head.”

“It’s something that I call Big You sometimes,” Steve said.

“So we _are_ friends,” Tony said with wonder in his voice. “You don’t get nicknames if you aren’t friends with people, Jarvis taught me that. That’s why he calls me Macaroni when no one is around instead of Master Tony because I don’t like being Master Tony the way Mama makes him call me, I like my secret name with him.”

Well, I am just learning all sorts of things, Steve mused. “What does Mrs. Jarvis call you?”

“She calls me Button.” Tony grinned. “Because she says that’s what my eyes look like. But when Dad and Mama are around, it has to be Master Tony because that’s _proper_.”

When Tony said the last word, he straightened himself up a little and let his voice drop in an absolutely uncanny mimic of the way Steve remembered Howard sounding - just in a prepubescent voice.

“Well, Shellhead is kinda like that,” Steve admitted.

“Like, you always call me Underoos,” Peter piped up and added a few sticks to Tony’s tower. “Nicknames are important to Big You, just like they are to you now.”

“You’re sure that Jarvis and Mrs. Jarvis aren’t alive?” Tony asked.

Steve shook his head. “Sorry, buddy. I know that they feel real, and so do your parents - “

“They’re not alive, right?” Tony interrupted quickly. “I don’t need to-”

“No, Tony, your parents and the Jarvises and Aunt Peggy -” Steve’s breath caught just a bit on the last one - “they’re all gone.”

“I’m old, then.”

“Not as old as me,” Steve said with a smile.

“Well, duh, Uncle Steve,” Tony said dramatically. “You were frozen which makes you super old. You and Uncle Bucky.”

“Tony!” Bruce interrupted at that point, his legs moving faster than the rest of his body as he barrelled towards them. “I found a _butterfly_.” The word was said with such reverence that Steve wondered if this was the age that Bruce first got interested in biology.

“You couldn’t have, they’re not gonna stay still long enough to be found,” Tony argued, but he was up and running after Bruce without so much as a further acknowledgement of Peter and Steve.

“Why does he call you guys Uncle?”

“My guess,” Steve said, “is that he called all the Commandos that and that people told stories about his Uncle Steve and Uncle Bucky because…”

“Because that’s who you would have been,” Peter finished quietly.

“The more I hear about how he grew up….” Steve trailed off again. It felt like every conversation he had with one of his teammates reminded him that there was so much he didn’t know about them.

“Keeping secrets is something that kids learn,” Peter supplied. “They learn pretty quickly who they can trust with those secrets and who they can’t, and it seems like Tony sussed you out pretty quickly as trustworthy.”

“My ma died when I was young,” Steve replied. “And while there were a lot of other kids in the building I grew up with, I was too sick to play with most of them. The only ones I really knew were Buck, his sister Becca, and the Russian family who we shared a bathroom with.”

“You shared a… nevermind, I knew that. I took the whole New York City history class they make us take,” Peter shook his head. “The idea of sharing a bathroom with strangers is…” Peter shuddered.

“Well,” Steve laughed. “They weren’t strangers. Trust me.”

“Anyway,” Peter continued. “My parents died when I was five. That’s why I live with Aunt May.”

Steve pursed his lips slightly and nodded. “I wasn’t sure, but I wondered.”

Peter grinned and plucked a blade of grass to keep playing with. “I’m surprised you didn’t ask Mr. Stark for my entire file before you agreed to let me train with the team.”

Steve laughed. “Oh, I never technically agreed to that. I just got a memo that you were joining and if I had a problem, I could take it up with Tony. I tried to go down to the workshop to reason with him - because I thought you were a child and he was maybe being reckless with your life. But then I got there and he looked right at me and said, ‘Steve, he needs a family and we need more air support. Deal with it.’ And that was that.”

Peter started giggling and soon the pair were both lost in fits of laughter - probably because of the absurdity of seeing the man that Steve just quoted running around with shoes half unlaced and chocolate smeared all over his face. They watched Bucky scoop him up and say, “ _Where did you get chocolate, dude! We didn’t even pack that._ ”

“He’s not really wrong, though,” Peter said.

“No, we do need more air support for whenever Rhodey is busy,” Steve replied, pretending he didn’t know what Peter was talking about.

“Aunt May is great,” Peter continued, “but it was really lonely being Spider-Man on my own.”

Of all the aspects of Peter Parker’s life that Steve had considered - dealing with his powers entirely on his own wasn’t one that he’d thought of. “So who was the first person you told about Spiderman?”

“Mr. Stark,” Peter said calmly. “He caught me swinging between a few buildings in Astoria that had collapsing spires and basically hauled me up by his gauntlet. He dropped me on the top of an apartment complex and started yelling at me that I was going to give him a heart attack. He’d been at Aunt May’s the day before to tell me that I was entering the Stark Industries Internship program, and that was already wild enough, but… Yeah, he was the first person I told the whole story too.”

“Bucky was the only person I’ve ever told,” Steve said simply. “Everyone else has just always known.”

“I had to tell Ned, and MJ, and Aunt May,” Peter replied, “but it was nice you all just knew. Do you wish you had to tell more of us? Like that we didn’t all just _know_ because you were a question on my 8th grade history exam?”

“You know,” Steve said thoughtfully, “no. Because it doesn’t matter - none of you but Bucky know pre-serum me. So, what does it matter?”

Peter peered at him and Steve got the impression the kid was trying to decide if Steve was bullshitting him or not. “Well, I felt both powerful and petrified for a solid year after I got bit and the only war I had to fight was the one between me and Flash to get to sit next to MJ at decathlon, so, just saying, you still get to talk about it.”

“Also,” Peter continued, turning his eyes back to the group in front of them. “Not for nothing, but I think we _all_ need as much family as we can get.”

Before Steve could respond, Bucky called out to them that Clint had eaten the last snack they brought so maybe it was time to get actual food. They’d been letting the kids run around the backyard long enough.

The drive back was quieter - all the kids, Peter and MJ included - nodded off somewhere on Highway 9. Steve watched the trees flicker by, the sound of Bucky's soft breaths coming from the seat beside him, and he couldn't help thinking that maybe he had a second chance at more than just family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tune in next week for when this thing earns its rating


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the smut averse, just click out at "upstairs?" and we'll see ya next chapter. 
> 
> For those whose brains are affixed in the gutter like mine? Enjoy the reunion.

Bucky swung the dishwasher shut and set the timer to start just before they'd all wake up. He was rinsing off his hands when two arms wrapped around his middle and a firm chest pressed against his back. 

"They're all sleeping," Steve whispered in his ear. "Tony negotiated me down from ten stories to two, but they were long ones."

Bucky grinned at the affectionate smile he could hear in Steve's voice. "I'm impressed you got it down to two." He dried his hands then turned in Steve's hold, letting himself be crowded up against the counter. "You know… there's something about watching you with those kids."

"Really?" Steve grinned, his eyebrow flicking up. 

"You're so good with them."

Steve snorted. "I'm not, but thanks for thinking it." He kissed the end of Bucky's nose, and the casual affection made Bucky's heart skip. "Movie?"

"Sure. And you are. Good with them, I mean. They worship the ground you walk on." Bucky tossed his tea towel in the laundry basket and dug a bag of popcorn out of the pantry. He stuck it in the microwave and watched it spin. Behind him, he heard the clatters of Steve getting drinks and hopefully the M&Ms. There were some benefits to a super-soldier metabolism, after all. 

When the popcorn had stopped popping, Bucky took the bag out and made his way to the couch, shaking it. Peter had taught him to turn it upside down so the butter would spread around. 

Steve was already on the couch, in the middle, and Bucky took a deep breath and sat right up next to him, tucking himself under when Steve lifted an arm to put around his shoulders. Steve's fingers drew gentle paths up and down the outside of Bucky's arm. "It makes me think about it, you know," Steve mused.

"Hmm?" Bucky looked at him in question.

"You asked me before if I thought about having kids. I hadn't, but doing this, with you? It makes me think about it. I get the appeal."

"That's a nice thought, Stevie."

“Peter was talking today about family,” Steve continued, in a tone that Bucky thought was more musing out loud than actually talking, but Bucky listened to just about everything Steve said so this was no different. “And the whole drive home, all I could think about was how none of them have family, none. Bruce’s dad, and Clint’s family, and Nat… I mean, Nat.. and then I just keep… Buck, can you believe Howard was so shitty? How could anyone not want to love that little boy? I get that he’s a pain in the ass, and he’s too smart to control sometimes, but when you just listen to him he melts into a puddle of--I don’t even know what I’m saying, but maybe I’ve been thinking about that because I’d never be as good of a parent as my ma was, and I’m realizing now that I just have to be better than my dad.” 

There were tears in Bucky’s eyes by the end of Steve’s speech, but he blinked them away quickly. “Stevie, you are already a great parent - because that’s kinda what being a good leader is. I did this whole unit in therapy on leadership - what is good and what is bad and we talked a lot about war, sure, and presidents and shit, but we also talked about family. The guy they had me talking to then was Dr. Philabotski, and he had me read Harry Potter, remember?”

Steve laughed. “Nat was so pissed you thought she was a Gryffindor.”

“Only a Syltherin would get mad that I sorted her into that house for her loyalty,” Bucky grinned. “Anyway, he asked me to think about the differences between McGonagall and Dumbledore in terms of leadership and I realized that I like McGonagall the best. She didn’t take any of their shit, she demanded excellence from them, but you can tell she loved those little motherfuckers. If you asked me what kind of dad I wanted to be, I’d say that kind. And you are already that kind of dad to the team.” 

Steve looked over at Bucky with a watery smile and nodded, but didn’t respond. Instead, he grabbed the remote and flipped on Netflix, finally settling on Die Hard for the third time that month. Bucky shoved the popcorn bag between their thighs and dumped in a whole bag of m&ms. As the movie went on, their fingers got bolder, starting out with knuckles brushing as they both reached for a snack at the same time and eventually giving up on all pretense and tangling together in Bucky's lap.

It felt utterly impossible that they should get to have this. After all the ways the universe had tried to pull them apart, even just to have one night, like this, together had been previously unimaginable. Their lives were always tainted by fear or poverty or death or distance, but now here Bucky was, with Steve Rogers pressed up against him, greasy popcorn fingers twisted into one knot. It was beautifully unfathomable.

Needing it to be even more real, Bucky turned and pressed his lips to the corner of Steve's. Steve hummed and twisted into the kiss, catching Bucky full on the mouth. Bucky licked away salt and butter, and as Steve let himself be tipped down onto his back, Bucky settled over him; Steve's strong thighs clamped to either side of his hips. 

"Buck," Steve murmured, his hand skating up the back of Bucky's shirt, and Bucky shuddered and melted into the touch. "Come upstairs with me?"

"Yes." Bucky kissed his way along Steve's jaw then sucked his earlobe between his lips. "Upstairs."

They tossed the popcorn bag and stumbled to the elevator. As soon as the doors slid shut, Bucky backed Steve up against the far wall. "God, I missed you. Missed the way you smell… taste."

Steve brushed Bucky's hair back and took his face between his hands. "You know, I never stopped loving you, not for a minute. I mourned you, I missed you--I never stopped loving you."

Bucky nipped at Steve's lip. "I didn't either. Even when I thought I'd forgotten you, you were still there, I could still feel this thing. They couldn't burn that away, no matter how much they tried."

The elevator doors opened, and Steve walked backwards into his apartment, pulling Bucky in after him. Steve stopped when the back of his knees hit the bed. He cupped Bucky's face again. "I don't want to ask you for anything you can't give. I know it's not the same. I know some things are harder for you now - I don't want me to be one of those things."

Bucky laughed and pressed forward so he could feel every inch of Steve against him, some inches more than others. "I think you are one of those things."

Steve rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean." He kissed him again like he couldn't wait for Bucky to speak before getting to taste him.

"You make things feel easier," Bucky told him, when his tongue was no longer occupied with more pressing matters. "It doesn't mean that this stuff between us - that navigating this - will always be easy, and I can't promise it's going to be the same as it was before, that I'm going to be the same, in an us, as I was before. But we've both changed. We can't go back to that. If this was only chasing nostalgia, I'd say we shouldn't do it. But that's not what it is for me." Bucky's heart clenched. He flicked his eyes up to meet Steve's. "Is it for you?"

Steve shook his head slowly back and forth. "No… Of course not. I love who you are now."

The immensity of that shook Bucky to his core. He hadn't realized how much that fear had been holding him back until now. This idea that Steve might love a Bucky that didn't exist anymore but still wore his face had been dogging him every step of the way without him acknowledging that was what it was. And it was only fair that he’d take a moment and make sure that he wasn't doing the flip side of that.

Bucky brushed his thumb across Steve's cheek, making Steve's eyes flutter shut. Steve was a different man now, and not just in the way he looked. Having power when he used to have none had fundamentally changed how he approached life. But it had never been Steve's anger or recklessness that Bucky had fallen for. It was his conviction, and that hadn't changed. It was his passion - which had changed, tempered and shaken by circumstances. 

And Bucky loved the man that he was now in new ways. He loved how softly he moved, how deeply he felt things. He loved the quiet passion Steve had now, in contrast to the explosive passion Bucky'd been raised alongside.

"I love you," Bucky said, pouring into his words all the now and the like this and the even if you change again. 

Steve swallowed heavily. "JARVIS? Can you lock the door, but let us know if any of the Avengers get out of bed or need us?"

"Of course, sir."

Bucky stroked his hands up and over Steve's hips to find the hem of his shirt. Steve lifted his arms and let Bucky peel it off. And… wow. Steve's abs had abs. Bucky couldn't stop his fingers from petting up, starting just above Steve's belly button and settling over his pecs for a moment before curling up over his shoulders.

"Your hands feel amazing," Steve breathed reverently, and Bucky flinched back, remembering one of those hands was cool metal. 

Steve's eyes snapped open again. "You okay?"

"I don't have to - I mean, I don't have to use this one to touch you." Bucky wiggled his metal fingers. "I can take it off, actually. Maybe that's best."

Steve's brow furrowed. "Would that make you more comfortable? I thought this arm was working well for you. If it bothers you, we can talk to Tony - once he's big again, of course - but whatever's wrong, I'm sure he can improve it. Hell, he could probably fix it as a six year old."

"No - I -" Bucky cut off, somewhat overwhelmed by Steve's concern. "No, it's just not very sexy to have cold metal touching you. Thought you might prefer the all skin version of me."

"Oh." Steve's cheeks exploded into hot pink like fireworks. "I actually… um." He cleared his throat heavily. "Don't ever tell Tony this on pain of death, but I kind of like the… uh. The robot stuff. I think your arm is beautiful. I think about… about you touching me all the time."

Bucky couldn't stop his grin. "You got a crush on the Iron Man armor, Stevie?"

"No. Just on this." His fingertips skated down Bucky's metal arm, setting the electronic nerve-endings alight. "But I think we all know that's not what Big Tony will hear if you tell him that."

Bucky laughed this time. He pressed closer and traced the curves of Steve's chest with one vibranium finger, thrilling at the shudder that passed through Steve's body. Steve hooked an arm around Bucky's waist and tipped backwards onto the bed, pulling him down with him. He rolled, and the weight of Steve's post-serum body pinning him to the bed was such a new but delicious feeling that Bucky moaned out loud. 

"Oh, Buck," Steve breathed, hips grinding down, and Bucky snapped his hands to his waistband. Both their clothes shed off easily, pants and socks and then underwear hitting the floor. 

Bucky couldn't stop touching. Having Steve's skin under his palms was a revelation. What had he been waiting for all this time? He stroked his knuckles down Steve's stomach then let his fingertips brush Steve's cock as he arched up to claim his mouth again. 

Steve moaned and pressed down into Bucky's touch. He found Bucky's tongue with his. He still tasted like popcorn and chocolate. Steve tipped to the side, not dislodging Bucky's touch, and wrapped his hand around Bucky's cock so they were mirrored. Bucky gasped heavy breaths into Steve's mouth as Steve's fingers worked him quickly to the edge. He knew he wasn't focused enough on returning the favor, his hand stuttering on the upstrokes, but the pleasure coiling inside him dominated his attention. 

"Steve, I'm -"

"Yeah, sweetheart," Steve murmured. "I want to feel you let go."

Bucky's hip thrust forward, seeking more friction as he tumbled over the edge, soaking Steve's hand and slicking the slide of his fingers in a way that started a new wave of pleasure building almost immediately. "Fuck," Bucky gasped.

"That's a quarter for the swear jaw," Steve said with a shaky laugh, and Bucky growled and rolled him over. 

"Gonna bankrupt you, baby," he whispered against his jaw, before sliding his metal hand through the mess of his own come and starting to jack Steve off again, rough and tight and unrelenting. 

"Oh, god." 

Bucky swallowed down every moan and gasp and groan of Steve's as he worked him towards completion. He'd never thought of the vibranium arm as sexy, but watching Steve's cock appear and disappear though the ring of the metal fingers, his own come slicking its slide, he couldn't ignore the eroticism of it. He stared, fascinated, as Steve tensed up and came, adding his release to the mess Bucky had already made. 

"Oh shit, Bucky, fuck - fuck. That feels so good." Steve's fingers scrambled at Bucky's shoulders, like he was trying to pull him in and push him away at the same time, writhing in the overstimulation. But there was something about the way he moved and thrusted that made Bucky wonder.

"Is it the same for you? You just have to keep going?" Bucky asked.

Steve's eyes went wide and he nodded. But then his arms went around Bucky's neck and he pulled him close enough to kiss him. His hips rolled, rubbing their cocks together. "Do you remember the night before the Expo?"

Bucky nodded against Steve's neck. "It was so hot and humid that night. I remember how your sweat tasted, how you felt inside me. Yeah, I remember."

"I want to make love to you like that again." Steve sounded almost shy, but the way his hand curved around Bucky's ass and gripped tightly was anything but.

"Yes."

Steve rummaged around in a drawer by the side of the bed and came back with a tube. Back then they'd used vaseline, but this stuff was slick and liquid and so smoothly eased the slide of Steve's fingers inside him. Bucky skin felt like it was dialed up to maximum sensitivity, each touch lighting him up in new ways. Steve worked two fingers into him, reminding his body how to stretch and give and relax, then he settled between Bucky's spread legs and pressed the head of his cock to his rim. 

Steve moved slowly, his cheek pressed to Bucky's. Whenever Bucky gasped or twitched, Steve slowed even further, letting Bucky's body take its time welcoming him inside. Even after a hundred years, the stretch was a familiar one. Bucky arched up to greet him as Steve settled deep, hips pressed together.

"I missed you," Bucky groaned. This felt more like coming home than stepping into the tower ever had.

"Damn, I missed you so much, Buck." Steve rocked back then sunk deep again, and they groaned in unison. 

Bucky hooked the back of Steve's neck with one hand and held on for dear life. Once the slide was slick and easy, Steve didn't hold back, thrusting deep and hard, jolting Bucky back against the headboard as his pleasure built and built.

Bucky's second orgasm was softer and steadier, waves breaking, one over each other, until he was shaking in Steve's arms, every thrust coaxing another spurt of come onto his stomach. Steve followed not long after, dropping his forehead to Bucky's chest as he moaned out his release. 

They stayed that way for a long time, wrapped together on the bed, then Steve slowly eased back. Bucky huffed at the loss, at no longer being joined, but Steve wound their hands together instead and pulled Bucky up to his feet. "Shower?"

"Yes, please."

They were quiet and sluggish in the shower, sleep settling heavily over both of them. Neither bothered to wash their hair, opting to rinse off the sweat and come and leave it at that. Dried off, they returned to Steve's bedroom. 

Bucky hesitated at the end of the bed. "Can I stay here, tonight?"

Steve grabbed him and pulled him down onto the sheets. "Bucky, I swear, you can stay here forever."

Bucky snuggled down behind Steve. He hooked his chin over his shoulder and wrapped around him, hugging his waist and pressing his chest tight to Steve's back. 

He closed his eyes. He couldn't help thinking about the tower full of sleeping Avengers. Tomorrow morning they'd wake up and fall back into being surrogate parents, but how long could they really keep that up? It wasn't fair to want them to stay little, just because co-parenting had been the catalyst to finally bring him and Steve back together, and if he was honest with himself, he missed their big versions. There was also the constant fear that they wouldn't be able to keep them safe indefinitely. 

Bucky tangled his fingers with Steve's, breathing in his closeness. "What if they never turn back?" he whispered into the dark of Steve's room - maybe it could be his room now, too, but that was a question to explore more tomorrow.

"Then we'll figure it out," Steve said, echoing the first few hours of the ordeal, with that Captain America assurity that had gotten him this far, that had dragged Bucky along with him even before he had a shield to his name. "We'll figure it out together."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tune in next week for when Strange comes back!


	8. Chapter 8

“Mr. Captain Steve?”

Steve looked up to see Bruce hovering around the back of the couch. In the time since The Incident, Bruce had never addressed Steve directly, choosing to use either Tony or Bucky as his spokesperson. “What’s up, Bruce?”

“CanyoucometotheworkshopIthinkTony’shurt.”

Steve’s brain whirred to put pauses in the right places and make sense of Bruce’s words. Why are they in the workshop without Peter? He knew better than to get annoyed or angry or show his frustration on his face - Bruce would scamper away quickly and Steve would lose any chance of getting to the bottom of what was happening.

“Sure, buddy, let’s go,” Steve replied and held out his hand for Bruce to take if the child wanted to.

Bruce wanted to.

Hand in hand they entered the workshop to find Tony sitting on the ground, his tiny frame being pecked at by DUM-E.

“DUM-E,” Tony said with a whine. “I’m fine. It’s just a scratch, I’m -- DUM-E get off.”

“Jarvis?” Steve enquired.

“Captain, Sir is not grievously injured. DUM-E is simply being protective.”

“I was more curious why I wasn’t told they’re here without Peter,” Steve fought to keep his voice light, “but I’m glad he’s not hurt.”

“Uncle Steve!” Tony said brightly. “I was trying to show Brucie Bear how to give DUM-E a bath so he can be all shiny for when Dr. Strange comes to visit because Uncle Bucky said he’s coming today and I wanted him to see how good the bots can be but then I tripted and banged my knee and the shiny stuff got in my knee and now it kinda burns.”

Steve grabbed the bottle of silver polish - which is not what Big Tony used to clean DUM-E so Steve had no idea where Tony got this - and quickly read the label. It didn’t look like anything that would cause Tony to lose a limb, so he simply scooped the boy up and took him over to the wash station that Pepper had forced Tony to install after burn incident number forty-two.

“Jarvis, can you let Buck know I’ve got the science bros if he can round up the sneaky spies?”

Both Bruce and Tony giggled at their nickname and the one given to Nat and Clint.

“Of course, Captain. Shall I remind him of the time as well?”

Steve’s mouth quirked into a grin. “It never hurts.”

Once Steve got Tony’s knee cleaned out, he wrapped a bandage around it despite Tony’s protests that bandages weren’t cool, and herded the boys upstairs.

Strange had sent word the night before that he’d cracked the solution and would be over the following day with the remedy. Steve wasn’t sure why he and Bucky felt so strongly that the kids needed to be clean and fed and such, but they did. Because they were good parents and that’s what good parents did for company.

Steve continued to ignore the itch at the back of his mind that said he wasn’t a parent and these certainly weren’t his children and Bucky wasn’t his life partner again just because they’d -

A tug on his trousers brought him back to reality.

“Uncle Steve,” Tony said, “you’re going to walk into a wall.”

“Thanks buddy, just a little distracted I guess.”

* * *

“So, run this by me again,” Bucky stared at Strange as he folded another round of laundry. For the rest of his life, he’d argue that small children’s clothes actually asexually replicated.

“I have been operating under the premise that the key to this mystery was vibranium, since the shield protected the Captain but Tony’s suit could not protect him,” Strange repeated. “So I went to visit Princess Shuri, who is the expert on the element. The Shuri in this timeline is unaware of the Avengers as you were unaware of her until this moment, and so I had to go to another timeline to speak with her. We have determined a formula that I will cast an incantation over which the children will consume in liquid form and they shall be returned to normal.”

“Does it taste like grapes?” Bucky asked. “Because Clint is in a grape phase and he won’t drink anything that doesn’t taste like grapes. Not that grape soda tastes anything like grapes. So we might just need to draw a grape on the side of the bottle - I'm honestly not sure what the parameters are. We survived the yellow phase and I need to tell you the grape one is at least a little easier.”

“And I’m not entirely sure Thor is consuming any liquids besides the crates of Red Bull he’s drinking,” Steve replied. “I’m assuming you have a solution for those obstacles?”

His tone was strident and Bucky bit back a grimace. His boyfriend not only hated magic, he was wary of anything involving a formula and body modification. If Strange wasn’t careful here, Steve would have the man pinned against a wall in a moment.

“Gentlemen,” Strange said, “I sense that you have become quite paternal to your teammates, but I must remind you that’s who they are - your teammates. I am obligated to restore them to their rightful ages and I’m not concerned with your emotions regarding their likes or dislikes about liquid flavoring.”

“We’re going to return to this secret princess, Doc,” Bucky replied slowly, “but I take your point. When can it all be ready?”

“Now,” Strange said simply. “I brought it with me.”

“Now?” Bucky found himself grasping hard at the shirt he had just picked up to fold. But I’m not ready to be done being a dad. I’m not ready to go back to the awkward houseguest with the swiss cheese brain and broken arm and I’m not ready -

“Bucky, honey?” Steve’s voice cut through the noise in his own head. “I said we’d give the kids until bedtime. They’re all having fun with Peter and MJ right now, we don’t want to interrupt them.”

Bucky nodded. “Do you have any idea how much they’ll remember?”

Strange shook his head. “My best theory is that they’ll remember emotions, just like their smaller selves remembered from their bigger selves. So will Tony remember the specific food you cooked last night? I don’t know. But I do believe he’ll remember that you made him feel safe.”

Steve nodded and Bucky wasn’t quite sure what to do with the emotion in his chest. Of course he didn’t want them all to remain small, that was unfair, but he also didn’t really want to stop this life they’d had for this breath of time.

“Make yourself at home?” Bucky said to Strange - more of a question than an invitation, as Bucky wasn’t sure how Strange would do such a thing or if he would even want to.

Strange’s mouth quirked into that odd half-smile he often had. “No, I believe I will take my leave again until the appropriate time. I am not particularly child friendly.”

A portal opened before either Steve or Bucky could argue the point and the sorcerer was gone.

“Did you tell him the appointed time?” Bucky asked Steve, who shook his head.

“I shall communicate with his staff,” Jarvis interjected.

“As always, keeping us right,” Steve said with a chuckle.

Both men fell quiet, but not into a comfortable silence. There were things that Bucky wasn’t saying that were itching at his skin, that he knew needed to be said but he wasn’t sure how to find the words. Just as he was about to open his mouth to start to fumble his way to an explanation, Steve spoke.

“I’m heading to the gym for a bit. I’ll see you at dinner?”

_So, alone time in the gym, which means he’s angry, which means…_

_No, Barnes, you have no idea what it means. Don’t assume you know him. Remember what MJ said about dating heroes._

“Sure, pal, I’ll just keep folding this laundry we won’t need any more.”

* * *

_StarkChat: Pepper Potts_

_Bucky: Hi Pepper, it’s Bucky, I got your number from Steve I hope that’s okay._

_Pepper: Of course, Bucky. I’ve been meaning to text you, actually. I’m sorry the negotiations got away from me this week. How are you?_

_Bucky: You know, this is still weird._

_Pepper: I can imagine. I’m home tomorrow and I’ll be happy to help. I do actually enjoy children, contrary to popular belief._

_Bucky: Why would anyone think you don’t like kids?_

_Pepper: Because I don’t have any._

_Bucky: But you don’t have any because you’re busy fixing the world. Kids, I have learned, are time consuming._

_Pepper: If you could let everyone else know that, particularly the folks on Tumblr who watch my stomach for pregnancy bumps as evidence Tony and I are in a secret relationship, I’d appreciate it._

_Bucky: I’m assuming that’s the kind of thing you never say to Stevie since he’d take you seriously._

_Pepper: correct. I told him you’d be the brains in the relationship._

_Bucky: Yeah, thanks for helping him on that._

_Pepper: Nat and I divided and conquered. You all function better when we do that._

_Bucky: You’re so right I’m not even mad._

_Bucky: Speaking of how frighteningly competent you are, Strange tells us he’s got a potion or whatever ready and they’ll all re-age tonight. So I have about fourteen children’s worth of clothes in the living room that now need to go somewhere else. What do I do?_

_Pepper: Oh, that’s such good news!_

_Pepper: I am slightly sad to not meet pre-Howard Tony. The pictures you all have been sending are so cute I kind of want to die._

_Pepper: You will tell him that upon pain of death._

_Bucky: Ma’am, I was tortured for 70ish years and I am significantly more intimidated by you than any of the handlers._

_Pepper: Is it the shoes? Steve’s scared of the shoes._

_Bucky: Doll, you’re the smartest person in every room you walk into. Including the ones with Tony in ‘em. To us peons, that’s fucking terrifying._

_Pepper: Aw, you’re so cute. Shame you’re taken._

_Bucky: Very._

_Pepper: I just grinned really big. Anyway, we support a women’s shelter out in Red Hook and I’ll make sure they get everything we gently used for the moms there._

_Bucky: Thank you. I knew you’d know the answer._

_Pepper: My pleasure._

* * *

_StarkChat: Peter Parker_

_Steve: Hey Pete, just wanted to let you know that Strange is fixing the kids tonight._

_Peter: Oh! Great!_

_Peter: MJ’ll be sad she didn’t get to say goodbye to Tiny Nat._

_Peter: Does Strange know how much they’ll remember?_

_Peter: What about how their bodies will react?_

_Peter: Do we know if they’ll know time has passed?_

_Steve: No_

_Peter: To all of those? Or one?_

_Steve: Basically, all. He doesn’t know anything, really, except that it’ll turn them back into adults._

_Peter: Yikes._

_Steve: So I anticipate a lot of questions._

_Peter: MJ and I uploaded every picture and video we took to Jarvis so he can show them stuff if they want._

_Peter: And I know Jarvis recorded a lot of it for Ms Potts_

_Steve: So your workshop time on Friday will be with regular Tony_

_Peter: Awesome because I have a physics project I legitimately need help on._

_Steve: Lol._

_Peter: You and Bucky did a great job, Steve. Really._

_Steve: Thank you._

* * *

Steve stared at the phone in his hand for a while, specifically at Peter’s last text. He’d beaten bags and jumped rope and even lifted some weights just to get the itchiness out from under his skin and none of it worked.

When he read that text from Peter, he knew why.

He didn’t want to stop being a dad.

He really, really liked being a dad and he loved being one with Bucky and what if Bucky was only around for the dad bits and -

“Punk, you are down here for too long.”

Steve looked up from his place on the floor to find his boyfriend leaning against the doorframe of the gym. “I barely worked up a sweat.”

“You only work up a sweat when fighting intergalactic creatures so I sincerely hope that punching some reinforced bags didn’t take it out of ya,” Bucky said with a snort.

Steve let his eyes travel over Bucky’s body, remembering places his tongue and fingers had been only hours before and wondered if they’d get to be there again.

“You’re being stupid,” Bucky said and sat down next to Steve. “You’ve got your stupid face on.”

“I don’t have a stupid face,” Steve protested.

“You do. It’s what everyone else calls your ‘sad puppy face’ but Becs and I always called it your stupid face because it’s what you wore when you were about to be stupid about yourself. Your angry face is when you’re about to be stupid in an alley.”

“That’s quite the taxonomy of my faces, Buck.”

“You have quite the taxonomy of stupid, Stevie.”

Steve shoved his shoulder and the pair fell quiet.

“Ya know,” Bucky started, “they got this fancy new thing in the 21st century called ‘using your words and not your fists’. I know it was a challenge for you before, but I think we should give it a whirl.”

“I hate you, you know.”

“I know.”

Steve was quiet for a minute before he laced their fingers together and started talking. “I liked being a dadish person and I liked being one with you a lot and I was just getting used to it and now it all goes away. I’m excited to date you without Tony trying to invent spy glasses so they can all catch us kissing, but I’m also gonna miss that a lot.”

“Me too,” Bucky confessed. “The munchkins weren’t as scary as I thought they’d be and I think we did an okay job.”

“But it’s also made me antsy,” Steve continued, “because now that I know what this is like, wait, what are you doing?”

Bucky had taken his hand away to dig in his pocket for his phone. He opened up the web browser and tipped it towards Steve.

“I’ve been looking at adoption agencies,” Bucky said, his voice dropping almost to a whisper, as though saying it out loud was too much to hope for. “It looks like we need to be married for most of them, but I’m sure Pepper could, I don’t know, work her magic, and it’s not like there’s a shortage of kids who need love and homes and we’ve got both of those.”

“Kids deserve yards,” Steve said.

“So either Tony builds us one on the roof or we move,” Bucky said with a shrug. “Whoever we adopt will have the weirdest family anyway, so they might as well have a weird yard.”

“There’s surrogacy, too,” Steve said.

“Yeah, but who better to adopt an orphan than two other orphans?”

“So, you’re really in this,” Steve clarified.

“Weirdo, I am so into the idea of forever with you that I literally broke conditioning to try to find you, so if you’ll have me -”

Steve cut him off with a kiss. “With pleasure.”

* * *

“Okay, instead of bedtime stories tonight,” Steve explained patiently, “Dr. Strange has a favor to ask.”

“Just tell ‘em straight, Stevie,” Bucky corrected and looked at all the kids in turn. “Wait, Thor.”

“I’ll get him,” Clint pronounced and made for the vent cover next to the elevator. Before either Steve or Bucky could stop him, he had the cover off and was crawling inside.

“How long has he been doing that?” Steve asked the room.

“Oh, forever,” Tony said confidently and with limited emotion. Which led Steve to believe that Adult Clint did this as well and made a mental note to create some sort of cover for his vent so Clint couldn’t see into his room.

A few moments later, they heard a crash and a string of shouts before Thor stomped his way into the living room with a gleeful Clint trailing behind.

“Rory is about to confess her love to Logan, so please make haste,” Thor grumbled.

“Wait,” Bucky held up his hand. “All this time you’ve been in there watching _Gilmore Girls_?”

“There has been pornography as well,” Thor said, “but I am quite taken with the story of Luke and Lorelai.”

“Sure,” Bucky made a face and nodded. Steve could tell he was trying not to laugh. “Who isn’t?”

“Right,” Steve cleared his throat. “So Dr. Strange has the way to turn you all back to adults.”

“We get to be big again?” Tony started bouncing on his toes. “Brucie, that means we can full science again.”

“It does,” Steve said, with a slight catch in his throat. “So Dr. Strange is going to give you all a drink and you have to drink the whole thing, okay?”

“It is grape?” Clint asked, with his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“No,” Bucky said, “but you’re going to be a good boy and drink it anyway because otherwise you’re never getting your full arrow set back.”

Clint nodded quickly and held out his hand. “Hit me, Doc.”

It sounded so much like Adult Clint that Steve snorted.

One by one, Strange handed each of them bottles and told them to sip. They drank at varying speeds, but Steve wasn’t surprised at all that Tony finished first. It was like watching the end of _Beauty and the Beast_ happen live in front of him. Tony’s fingers and toes started to glow, and then all of his joints, and then soon he was stretching out. When it was all finished, the glow faded and Tony was left in a vague approximation of the pajamas he had been in and carrying a confused look on his face.

“So, not a nightmare then,” Tony started with. “I really was six again and we really did accidentally blow up the elevator.”

“You _what_?” Bucky screeched.

“I intervened,” Jarvis’ voice rang through the room.

“Comrades! We are back to rights!” Thor boomed as soon as the potion wore off for him. “If you’ll excuse me, I have a television show to attend to.”

Steve looked at Strange who shrugged. “I told you I didn’t know what they’d remember.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They're big! What now?! See y'all next Friday!


	9. Chapter 9

“Tony,” Steve stood at the door of the workshop and called out. “Jarvis said you had a minute. Can we talk?”

“Oh, god, Cap, are you breaking up with me? But you just gave me your pin,” Tony whined. “It’s Barnes, isn’t it.”

“He sucks dick really well,” Steve said solemnly and was rewarded when Tony burst out laughing.

“In my defense, so do I, but I am actually thrilled for you two,” Tony said. He gestured to the couch he kept in the corner of the workshop and asked DUM-E to fetch a few bottles of water. “Jarvis said you came down here a few times so the boys wouldn’t be confused.”

“They liked playing with you and Bruce in your small selves,” Steve responded, “but I know they missed their dad.”

A grin twisted the corner of Tony’s mouth. “So what did you want to talk to me about?”

Steve took a deep breath and ran his hands on his pant legs a few times, to try to focus his thoughts. He knew he needed to clear the air on Small Tony being scared of Cap, but didn’t really know how to go about it. “When you first turned, you were really frightened of me,” Steve started.

Tony put up his hand. “Jarvis explained, and then Peter and I have talked a lot about what happened. So, you don’t need to apologize. Why I was scared of you is all on Howard, all of it.”

“I just want you to hear that I think you’re a good man, Tony,” Steve said. “All of the comparisons Howard made of us were bullshit.”

“Language, Captain,” Tony snarked and Steve grinned.

“You were always good. I always figured you were, but now that I’ve seen you as a kid? Fuck your father forever. If you were my kid, I’d parade you around for the whole world to admire. You are kind, and generous, and smart as a whip, obviously, but also such a good friend. You were so good at helping us take care of Nat and Clint, and I just wanted you to hear from me that now I’ve seen both Tony’s? I really like them both,” Steve finished on a smile.

“Thanks, Steve,” Tony said softly. “It probably shouldn’t mean as much as it does, but it means a lot.” There was a slightly awkward pause, then Tony cleared his throat. "For what it's worth, you… you were good at taking care of us. I don't remember all of it - some of it is hazy - but I remember feeling safe with you. Even when I was scared to disappoint you, I still felt safe. Howard never made me feel safe," he added in a mumble. "So thanks for that."

Before Steve could respond, Jarvis indicated that Peter and MJ had entered the Tower and were on their way to the workshop. Steve swore he heard Tony mutter ‘thank fuck’ and fought a smile that the emotional disclosure had been too much for his friend.

His family member, really.

And all it took was sentient toasters.

“Mr. Stark! I’m so glad you’re back to-”

“It was weird, there, Stark,” MJ cut in, her tone even to the inventor who grinned.

“Just be glad I was potty trained, Miss Jones,” Tony replied. “Now, you two, catch me up on what you did while I was snack sized.”

MJ held back a snort. “Do you know what ‘snack’ means?”

Tony exchanged a look with Steve that seemed to say ‘Did I also lose my English skills?’ before he responded slowly. “I thought I did.”

“Jarvis, can I get an assist, my man?” MJ and the AI had bonded over their shared experience of the care and maintenance of geniuses.

“Sir, Captain, I believe Miss Jones is referring to the newer interpretation of the word, which refers to a human as an object of sexual desire.”

Both Tony and Steve blinked at MJ, who rolled her eyes.

“You just implied that you, as a child, were tasty enough to eat. In that way.”

“Okay, we’re not letting youths use words anymore,” Tony declared. “Privileges revoked.”

MJ responded by ignoring him and asking Jarvis to play Lizzo. As the three of them started to open holograms and chatter back and forth, Steve began moving towards the door.

“Mr. Captain, sir,” Peter called, “don’t you want to stay?”

Tony looked confused for a minute before Peter clarified. “When you were small, he would stay down here with you and Bruce. He’d sketch from the couch while you two played with DUM-E or U and it was, like, peak dad energy, which I know you aren’t anymore, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still stay and sketch?”

“Yeah,” MJ said, “besides, when you ask questions to make these idiots speak English, I learn too.”

Steve felt a blush dust his ears as he met Tony’s eyes. “I like learning.”

Tony’s face broke out in a grin so wide Steve thought his skin might crack. “Well, then let’s give the Captain a lesson on nanobots, shall we?”

* * *

The transition back to adulthood wasn’t particularly kind on anyone’s bodies. Tony had tried to do a proper workshop binge so he could get caught up on work, but had passed out somewhere around 2am and didn’t wake up until well into the afternoon. He stumbled into the living room where Clint and Nat were bemoaning their own physical misery and Bucky and Steve were watching amusedly.

Tony groaned and listed to the side as he collapsed on the couch, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I think I'm getting a back-to-my-age-again hangover. I would kill for a scotch, right now."

"Your solution to a hangover is to get drunk?"

"Hair of the dog, Barton. Thank you for volunteering to go to the liquor store to pick up more Glenlivet."

Clint snorted, but stood up, shoving his phone in his pocket. "Only cause I also need beer. Why are we so low on booze?"

"We cancelled the regular delivery," Steve said. "They need an adult to sign for it and every time I do, some pap gets a picture and talks about how it’s good that the serum is there to keep me honest or whatever. You guys didn’t need it, so we just cancelled it." Steve looked thoughtful for a moment. "Then Buck and I kind of needed it so… we ran out."

"Nice to know all it takes is a couple of kids to push two supersoldiers to drink." He stretched. "Alright, I'll go. It'll be nice to taste free air again."

Bucky stood too. "Tasting New York air is never nice. I'll come with you."

"I don't need a babysitter anymore, Buck." Clint grabbed his bag from the hook by the door.

Bucky punched him on the arm. "There's a bodega next door. I’m craving Cheetos." He followed Clint to the elevator and poked the ground floor button. "So... any lingering side-effects?"

"Only a killer craving for mac and cheese and a rather uncomfortable urge to call you 'uncle.' Any side-effects from being an unexpected parent?"

"Nah. I already had the constant desire to put you in timeout before your stint as a toddler, so it wasn't really that different. I guess it is nice that you can reach your own mac and cheese now. I'm also very much looking forward to sleeping through the night."

The walk to the corner that contained the liquor store and the preferred bodega because it was just this side of hygienic to make Bucky feel at home was pleasant. Bucky wasn’t wrong that the air in Manhattan was never pleasant but it also felt so good to be outside that the smell didn’t even bother him. He and Clint made small talk as they walked, snorting at displays in store windows. They caught a headline at one of the corner newsstands about something the President said while they were on lockdown and made jackoff motions with their hands. Bucky had forgotten how in-sync he and Clint could be at times.

The stop at the bodega was quick - Bucky grabbed all the varieties of Cheetos they had and a few chocolate bars for Steve. At the liquor store, Clint filled a basket with enough for the whole team, so Bucky just grabbed more of the beer he and Steve had spent their evenings with and met Clint up front. There was no one in line, so Bucky put his six-pack on the counter and shoved his hand in his pocket to find his wallet, but Clint grabbed his elbow. "I've got this."

Bucky stepped aside and Clint added the bottles from his basket to the collection on the counter then swung his bag around. He dug around inside and came up with -

The swear jar.

"You've gotta be kidding me," Bucky growled.

Clint shot him a beatific grin and upturned the jar, cascading coins all over the counter. "Sorry, bud," he said to the cashier. "I work as a stripper. It's all I have."

"For coins?" Bucky snapped back.

"I'm a really bad stripper," Clint added.

"I take it back." Bucky slumped backwards against the counter as the cashier started to count. "You were easier as a kid."

* * *

“So,” Steve drew out the word a few days later when the boyfriends - gah, he got to use that word! - were in Steve’s living room, flipping through Netflix. “What’s with the face all day?”

Bucky cut his eyes over to Steve and then rolled them. “I didn’t have a face.”

“You’ve been mopey.”

“I do not mope.”

Steve snorted. “Okay, then you’ve been off. Is that delicate enough for your majesty?”

Bucky flipped him off. “Eh, just in a mood. I’ll be fine.”

“What about?”

“If I wanted to talk about it I would have,” Bucky replied, snappishly. “Here, the show about the baking and the soggy bottoms. We’ll watch that.”

As Mel and Sue narrated another week in the bake-off tent, Steve did a mental review of the previous few days. _Is he pissed about the peanut butter thing? No, I don’t think so, Bruce said that was handled. Did Tony say something gross when he was doing the arm tune-up? I feel like that wouldn’t have knocked Bucky off his trail._

“I miss them being small and that makes me a jackass because they sure don’t miss it,” Bucky said, firmly but softly. “I miss ‘em that way, but I like these ones too, I just -”

He stopped abruptly as Steve pulled Bucky towards him and arranged their bodies into a snuggle position on the couch. “Me too.”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t miss their bullshit,” Steve confessed, “but the sweet moments? Like when Bruce would just kind of tumble into our laps when he was ready for a nap? Or the way Nat looked at MJ just after MJ finished doing her hair?”

“Or, the way they smelled actually clean after a bath,” Bucky said with a sad chuckle.

“Basically, we miss being dads,” Steve concluded.

“Yeah,” Bucky said. “Ain’t that pathetic.”

“No,” Steve said tenderly. “I actually love it, because it feels like we just picked up where we left off, in a way. In any conventional timeline, talking about being serious is too much after a few days, but I fell in love with you before I really knew what love was. Now that I get to have this life with you when it’s legal? God, Buck, sign me up.”

“Stevie, I’m ready to marry you tomorrow,” Bucky said. “But I think if we deny Tony the right to throw a big ass party, he’ll kill us.”

“But what if we get married and then let him throw a big ass party for the future kid’s first birthday?”

Bucky sat up. “So, you were serious then, you’re ready to start the family thing?”

Steve nodded. “I’m sure it’s emotional whiplash or something since everything’s been so weird, but, what the hell are we waiting for?”

“The courthouse to open for one,” Bucky sassed and Steve flicked his nose. “But yeah, I’m with you, except that everyone has to be there when we tie the knot and you feel that way, too, you’re just being dramatic.”

“I’m never dramatic.”

Bucky met that claim with a snort and silence.

“Like I said, we want everyone there. These idiots are our family Steve and you don’t do anything serious like getting married without your family.”

“That’s a pretty piss poor proposal, Barnes,” Steve replied.

“Oh, I’m sorry, was I in charge of that? Right, Steve Rogers, I love you. Let’s get hitched.”

“Works for me,” Steve said and captured Bucky’s lips in a kiss.

* * *

T’Challa, Shuri, Nakia, and Okoye had flown in for the ceremony, and they’d also begrudgingly invited Strange. It all took place at the house on the Hudson they’d had that wonderful field trip to when the Mini-Vengers were present.

After a lot of back and forth over who would play what role when they really shared everyone in their lives, it was decided that Nat and Clint would stand with Bucky, Sam and Peter would stand with Steve, and Tony and Pepper would perform the ceremony.

(Steve had made sure to tell Jarvis before he asked Peter so he could film the boy’s reaction and Steve quietly added it to his private file of ‘Things to Watch When I Hate the World’.)

Which is how Steve and Bucky ended up under an arbor in the yard, wearing coordinating tuxedos and matching grins, surrounded by everyone they claimed as family.

“Folks, let’s not beat around the bush here,” Tony started off, “this is at least fifty years overdue, so mostly I think we’re all glad to just be on the right side of history here.”

Steve caught Pepper rolling her eyes out of the corner of his and he stifled a snort.

“A little formality would kill you?” She muttered before raising her voice to address the crowd. “Bucky and Steve were pretty clear to Tony and me about how they wanted this to go. They wanted a chance to tell each other how they felt, and then a chance to ask you to help them as they figure this all out.

“But they did,” Pepper paused to squeeze each of their shoulders, “allow me the big sister privilege of saying a few words.”

“Is this when I have to pretend to cry for dramatic effect?” Tony quipped.

“I’ll kick you in the balls if I have to,” Pepper replied sweetly and the crowd chuckled. Steve was grateful they’d remembered the other part of their instructions - make it feel like ‘them’.

“Steve, Bucky,” Pepper started, “I remember the first time I learned of your love story. It was in a textbook I found during high school, a footnote that insinuated more than told and I remember being profoundly sad for you. Sad that the thing that was probably the most important part of your lives was a footnote to the rest of us, mostly, but also sad that it all got stolen by duty and violence. So when it was even the breath of a possibility that this story could continue, I knew we all had to help you two fight for it.

“And I know we joke that I plan for everything, but I honestly didn’t plan for sentient toasters and de-aged Avengers. However, I’m glad they came along when they did since it seemed to provide you two with the push you needed to see what the rest of us already had - your story had a semicolon, not a period.”

“What Pep is trying to say-”

“Oh, I love mansplaining, please continue.”

“- is that we’re glad you guys got here quickly kind of on your own because she and Nat were getting antsy.”

“Find the lie,” Nat said from behind Bucky and they all giggled a little.

“So from all of us who stand here to affirm your story that’s already happened and commit to helping you in the chapters to come, it’s about fucking time,” Pepper concluded and the gathered group cheered. Bucky leaned over to kiss Steve while they did, which only added wolf whistles and a cry of ‘get you some, Sergeant’ from Sam’s sister.

When it all died down, Steve cleared his throat and turned to the crowd. “In the last few months, as we planned this and thought about this, Buck and I talked to a lot of people about marriage and commitment and what it meant. We know everything’s a little different now than when we were young the first time, so we wanted to meld the traditions if we could.

“But then an old diary we found in the Brooklyn Public Library reminded us of a tradition that happened in our neighborhood when two fellas were quietly committing to being ‘roommates’ and how we’d all protect them and bless it, and we wanted to carry that forward. Because even if you guys don’t have to protect us for being arrested for sodomy laws, we’re both still -”

“We still need protection from each other and toasters,” Bucky interrupted.

“Exactly,” Steve said with a grin. “So, we got a question for you all.”

“A few, actually, Stevie’s never been great at math,” Bucky quipped.

“First, do you promise to shelter us when we are without home - either because we can’t find it in each other at that moment, or because the world has taken it?” Steve recited.

“We do,” the crowd murmured.

“Do you promise to speak truth to us even when it hurts, and remind us of the promises we made this day when we have forgotten?” Bucky asked.

“We do,” the crowd affirmed and they heard Tony say behind them that it would be his pleasure.

“Do you promise to help us fight for the world we want to create, the one we hope to birth into being through our love, for love is a verb that demands justice and hope to be at its core?” Steve said, his voice clouding with unshed tears. Bucky’s fingers threaded through his and he let himself be grounded.

“With honor,” Thor said so loudly and so quickly that everyone else followed suit.

“Then we promise to you that we will be active members of this family, that we will also shelter you, hold you to account, speak love with you, as we enact love together,” Bucky said. “And now, we are ready to make our vows that we know they will be supported by yours.”

The men turned back towards each other and Tony cleared his throat.

“Then there’s only one question left, really,” Tony said. “But I have to ask each of you, just to be sure. Do you, James Buchanan Barnes, take Steven Grant Rogers to be your lawfully wedded husband? Do you promise to choose him for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, forsaking all others, for as long as you both shall live?”

“If this mook gets any sicker than he was when I fell for him, I’ll eat my hat, so yes, I absolutely fucking do,” Bucky said with tears falling down his cheeks.

“Do you, Steven Grant Rogers, take James Buchanan Barnes to be your lawfully wedded husband? Do you promise to choose him for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, forsaking all others, for as long as you both shall live?”

“I mean, he’s here, so might as well,” Steve said and Bucky punched him in the stomach a little. “I do. With joy and promise and everything else I can muster, I absolutely fucking do.”

“Rings?” Pepper asked Sam and Nat, who quickly produced them. She held them both out to Steve and Tony. “Wear these with loud pride, my boys, for you have earned it and let them remind the rest of us, every time we see your hands, that this is what love looks like.”

They slid the rings on each other’s fingers and waited for the pronouncement.

“By the power invested in us by the State of New York and the family gathered here, we now pronounce you married,” Pepper and Tony said in unison.

“About fucking time,” Bucky muttered as he pulled Steve in for a kiss to seal the vows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> one more chapter! what do you think will happen?!


	10. Chapter 10

_Three Years Later_

“Are you sure you’re ready?”

“I swear to God, Stevie, if you ask me that one more time-”

Steve leaned over to kiss his husband and touched their foreheads together. “I worry.”

“I’ve met you.”

Steve playfully punched Bucky’s shoulder and went back to painting the wall he was working on in what would be the nursery on their floor.

The nursery. Because they were about to be dads.

“Can we hit pause on the sap, kids?” Tony asked as he leaned against their doorframe. “I got brawn here in ten to give us a hand.”

“It’s painting walls,” Bucky replied. “And Stevie and I are the brawn. Who else are you bringing in?”

“Do you have Andre the Giant resurrected somewhere?”

“That’s the _Brute_ Squad, Steven,” Tony tsked. “I understand that we only watched that film thirty-four times while I was consigned to pint size, but really, I expected more from an eidetic memory. Oh, you were too busy mooning over Barnes, I forgot.”

Bucky snorted.

“Are you quite done?” Steve rolled his eyes and saw the spark of glee in his friend’s eye. Friend. He was so relieved they’d gotten back to that point after Tony grew again. The burgeoning friendship they’d been building before The Incident (as Steve referred to it in his head) was cemented once everyone were adults again and as Steve kept falling more in love with Bucky as a romantic partner, he fell more in platonic love with Tony and the team. They were his family. He’d chewed a lot on what Peter had said that day on the picnic and realized the boy was right - he could use all the family he could get.

And it was about to get bigger.

“Comrades!”

“You invited Thor to help paint the nursery?” Bucky peered at Tony.

“I let Thor know you two were - in his words - domesticating in preparation for the child,” Tony replied, “and he insisted on bringing a parenting gift.”

Thor appeared through the door with an Amazon box, which he thrust into Bucky’s hands. “On my way here, Lady Jane informed me of the custom to remove the gift from the shipping packaging and wrap it in subsidiary paper. I was unaware; please do not interpret my lack of bows as a lack of care.”

Bucky nearly snorted. “Pal, if I could avoid wrapping paper for the rest of my life, I’d be fine.” He opened the box and started laughing so hard that Steve crossed the room quickly to see what he was holding.

“You bought us _Gilmore Girls_ ,” Bucky wheezed as Steve grinned at their friend.

“I desire that you should know the joy and pain of the story of Luke and Lorelai,” Thor said solemnly, but with a twinkle in his eye that warmed Steve’s heart.

In the three years since their temporary dad stint, the team had constantly encouraged Bucky and Steve to explore that part of their lives. Thor, especially, assured them that they would be excellent fathers through any stage of development of their child. He regaled them with Asgardian traditions of child rearing (that Bucky and Steve treated as a ‘How Not To’ guide more than anything) and brought them gifts of fertility constantly.

_“Thor, you know -”_

_“It is a general wish for the fertility of whomever shall bear your child, Captain,” Thor replied. “While our reproductive systems are different in Asgard, I am aware of the limitations of human bodies.”_

_“Wait, does that mean that Asgardian men can carry babies?” Clint said from the corner._

_“Human men can as well,” Thor replied, with a tone of confusion. “I’ve been informed that gender is not essential, just the presence of a womb.”_

_Steve could see Nat hiding a small smile as she replied, “Good answer, Thor. But also answer Clint, I need to know how fast I should consider emigrating.”_

When Bucky and Steve had finally been ready to start considering their options, the team was invaluable. Tony made pro and con charts between surrogacy and adoption, Pepper talked them through infant versus older child adoption, Nat helped them think through safety measures around their apartment, and everyone just basically cheered them on each step of the way.

They’d originally gone with adoption, but after two years of waiting for a family to choose them, Tony urged them towards surrogacy.

_“Listen,” he said earnestly, “it’s not like there’s anything defective with either of your sperm and it won’t be hard for us to find a really solid egg donation. You can require that whoever the mother is lives here if you want and then be as involved in that period as you want. Dream big, fellas. We’ll make sure they come true.”_

_Both Steve and Bucky had simply stared at Tony, unsure of what to say._

_“Why do you want us to have a child so badly,” Steve asked and Tony blushed._

_“Don’t make me say it.”_

_Bucky furrowed his brow._

_“Come on,” Tony whined, “I’ve done all the emotions I can for the day.”_

_“Sir, I believe they are genuinely confused,” Jarvis interrupted._

_Tony sighed dramatically and ran his hand over his face. “Because you were better fathers to me in six days than Howard was in twenty-one years. Give that to someone else, please, don’t waste it on our weird childhood retcon.”_

“Oh, before I forget,” Tony interrupted everyone’s _Gilmore Girls_ related giggles, “Pepper is having absolutely ferocious pizza cravings this week, and if anyone makes any jokes about it, Steve, Bucky, and I have to hear about it, so please just eat your pizza in silence, okay?”

All eyes in the room flitted to Clint, who seated on the floor, folding baby clothes into Marie Kondo-style packages. “Why is everyone looking at me?”

“Because you made the pregnant lady cry yesterday,” Bruce drolled from his position on the opposite wall, paint roller in hand.

“Entirely on accident!” Clint protested. “How was I supposed to know that the difference between hamburger and Italian Sausage was so personal?”

“Isn’t it ‘by accident’?” Peter asked as he and MJ entered the room.

“Yes,” Nat confirmed as she followed behind them.

“Great, getting bullied for asking questions, getting bullied for words,” Clint muttered.

“Your life is terrible,” Nat affirmed. “Someone should start a GoFundMe for your pain.”

“Are you two positive that this is the family you want your kiddo born into?” MJ asked with a raised eyebrow.

Bucky grinned at her and Steve saw him break out in the smile that never failed to steal Steve’s breath. “Absofuckinglutely.”

“SWEAR JAR,” Clint yelled and Nat swatted him upside his head.

* * *

After a lot of hemming and hawing and debate, Pepper ended up as their surrogate.

_“Are you sure?” Bucky asked for what had to have been the fourteenth time that weekend._

_Bucky, Steve, Pepper, Tony, and Nat were all at the Hudson River House - as it had come to be known - plotting and strategizing how to get Bucky and Steve a kid. Bruce was on a mission to an academic conference in India and Clint had gone to visit Asgard with Thor for the week._

_“I’m not sure about children for myself,” Pepper confessed. “I feel like I have to choose between raising a company or raising a child because I think both would deserve my full attention. Between those two? I’ll choose SI every day and twice on Sunday because I’m really, really good at this job.”_

_“You really are,” Steve smiled._

_“You can do both, Pep, I’ve been telling you for years that we’ll-”_

_She cut Tony off with a raised hand. “And I’m saying that I don’t want to do both. I want to do one or the other and this is the choice I’m making right now. However, I have a viable womb and really healthy eggs and neither of those might be true for much longer. The window to help you guys is shrinking.”_

_“Would you want the baby to call you ‘Mom’?” Bucky asked._

_Pepper shook her head. “Auntie Pepper is fine. I’m basically an egg donor and surrogate in this process, I’m not your baby mama. You two are not going to need me in your parenting.”_

_“Actually,” Nat said, “can we revisit the car seat incident?”_

_Bucky flipped her off and looked at Pepper. “If you are sure, then we are too.”_

_“I am sure.”_

Pepper being herself, she’d used the opportunity to have SI get involved in legalizing same-sex adoption worldwide and on surrogacy rights within the circus of American health care. They’d decided to not hide what she was doing and she did every interview she was asked to do about the emotional and physical process of being pregnant for someone else.

They’d gone to all the doctors appointments with her, tried very hard not to mother hen her to death - her glare and the threat of impalement via stiletto kept Steve mostly in line - and they’d all created the nursery together. Steve’s artistic eye helped with the colors, Pepper sourced all the best equipment, Tony built some more, and Bucky just made sure it all still looked grounded and human and not like something a Kardashaian would use.

“Captain, Sergeant,” Jarvis interrupted them one quiet evening, close to Pepper’s due date. They’d been sent away to have a date night and they’d ended up on their sofa, with Nailed It on in the background and a veritable feast of sushi in their bellies.

“What’s up, J?” Bucky asked.

“Ms. Potts has asked me to inform you that her water has broken and if you could join her in the birthing suite at your earliest convenience.”

Both of them froze.

“It’s happening,” Bucky breathed.

“Maggie,” Steve said with a smile, “is making her grand entrance.”

“Seems fitting she interrupts our date,” Bucky grinned. “You ready to be a dad again?”

“Are you kidding? I can’t wait to deal with bed wetting and not being able to kiss you without an audience, and peeling her off the walls when she tries to climb them.”

Bucky snorted. “Pep’s not giving birth to Clint.”

“No, but she is giving birth to a genetically tiny you and you were a fucking pain in your mom’s ass,” Steve said.

“Oh, like you were a damn angel,” Bucky scoffed and Steve kissed him.

“Let’s go see what Pep needs, because since Mags is your kid, she’s gonna be ornery and put up a fight.”

“We have very different memories of the 20s and 30s pal,” Bucky said. “I believe if you refer to the history books, however, I was a charming cad and you were the one getting beat up in alleys as a hobby, with an adorable dash of recruitment fraud.”

“Yeah, but who followed me into those alleys?”

Both men paused as they headed for the elevator.

“End of the line,” Bucky whispered as he pulled Steve in for a kiss.

“For as long as we both shall live,” Steve replied. “Let’s go meet our daughter.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone who has commented on and kudosed this sap fest. I don't write this ship often, so I'm always a little nervous how it'll be received but you all have been so overwhelmingly kind! 
> 
> If you liked the story, I'd love to know! Kudos and comments are life giving. If you're not sure what to say in the comment, know that I take keyboard smashes and emojis as full love. So, if you liked it more than just a kudos, dropping a heart emoji is great and I thank you in advance.
> 
> Find me on [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/betheflame1) or [Tumblr](http://betheflame.tumblr.com) for more on these yahoos. You can also submit prompts and cajole me into writing faster - it usually works. If you're on Discord, I'm definitely there, too, and probably hanging in the [Put on the Suit Stony Server. ](https://discord.gg/z5WSqbS)  
>   
> Oh! And FestiveFerret and I have a [fandom podcast](http://www.podonthesuit.com) if you're so inclined.  
>   
> 


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